Love, Honour, and Obey
by Symphony In Blue
Summary: When a young Saudi Arabian girl goes missing whilst on her honeymoon in London, it's for Gene and Alex to solve the mystery behind her disappearance. AU post series 2. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ashes to Ashes, or any of its characters. They all belong to the BBC, Kudos and Monastic productions. I'm merely using them for entertainment purposes._

_Author's note: I started writing this story in August 2009 (I'm a bit of a slow writer), so it's obviously AU post series 2. This story follows the same storyline as my previous story, 'Changes'. You can easily read this story separately, but to get some background info I'd suggest you go back and read that story as well. As for the timeline: the story starts in November 1983.  
_

* * *

_Chapter 1_

Alex awoke from good night's sleep. In fact, she hadn't slept that well in a very long time. The bedroom door was slightly ajar and the delicious smell of freshly made pancakes driftedinside and filled her nostrils. She looked at the clock on her nightstand. It was nearly 7 o'clock, which meant she had plenty of time to have breakfast. As she felt quite hungry, she quickly got out of bed and made her way downstairs to the kitchen. And what she saw there was one of the sweetest things she had ever seen in her life. The breakfast table was set with plates, freshly squeezed orange juice, and hot steamy mugs of tea. And Gene and Molly were standing by the stove, making pancakes together. Alex leaned into the doorframe and watched the spectacle in front of her. She loved watching Gene and Molly together; they got along so well together, and frankly there was something very sexy about Gene acting all domestic. Alex had never expected Gene to adjust to a regular family life this well. But he had, and it had made her love and admiration for him grow even more.

After several minutes, they finally noticed her.

"Morning Bolly. Sleep well?"

"Morning mum."

Alex walked into the kitchen and gave Molly a hug, before walking over to Gene to kiss him good morning.

"I slept really well, but now I'm absolutely ravenous. These pancakes smell so good!" she said as she sat down at the table.

Nothing was said for a while, as they all sat down and enjoyed their breakfast. Gene couldn't hold back a grin as he saw Alex dig into her fifth pancake in under ten minutes.

She looked up at him. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing Bolls, just glad to see you've got such a healthy appetite this morning."

"Yes, well I have got the best excuse in the world for that. Eating for two, remember?" Alex stuck out her tongue and went back to focus on her plate of food.

"That's why we made a few extra pancakes!" Molly said with a smile.

At that moment, the phone rang. Gene and Alex exchanged puzzled looks.

"I wonder who that could be. Nobody we know would call this early and we're not working on any major cases at the moment" Alex said.

Gene stood up. "I'll get it."

They heard Gene briefly talk on the phone before he re-entered the kitchen.

"Right Bolls, abandon the food and get dressed, we're needed down at the station straightaway."

"What's happened?"

"Dunno exactly. Some uptight bastard's demanding to speak to us and is making a lot of fuss. So we better get down there and see what it's all about."

"But what about Molly? I have to take her to school later."

"It's alright mum, I can take the bus."

Alex turned around as she heard her daughter's voice.

"I don't think so, I will not let you stand outside waiting at some bus stop. It's freezing out there. I don't want you to catch a cold right before Christmas!"

"Don't worry Bolls. We'll take her down to the station, see 'ow serious the situation is. If it's nothing serious, you can take Molls to school afterwards. If you're needed, we'll let someone else drop her off, like Chris or Shaz.

"Alright then".

_So much for a quiet breakfast_, Alex thought to herself as she made her way upstairs to get dressed.

* * *

After a car ride from hell, they arrived at the station twenty minutes later.

As they walked up the steps, Alex told Molly to go and find Shaz, while Gene and herself went to deal with the problem at hand.

They spotted the 'problem', the moment they approached Viv's desk. An impeccably dressed Arabic man was pacing up and down the hall shouting, and giving everyone a hard time.

Gene was clearly annoyed by this, and he looked as though he was about to smack him. Alex noticed this and decided not to let it happen.

"Don't," was all she said as she grabbed his arm and gave him a serious look.

"Alright then, what do you suggest we do about this?" Gene asked.

"Well, it seems best to put him in an interview room. It's quiet there and he can tell us why he's here and what he wants from us."

Gene nodded. "Okay, let's do that. But if he keeps acting like an idiot, I'll punch 'im and bang him up for wasting police time."

The two of them made their way over to the man.

Alex decided to speak first. "Right, what seems to be the problem Mr.?"

"Gibran. My name is Nour Gibran. I need to talk to someone in charge, urgently!"

"I'm DI Drake and this is DCI Hunt. Let's go somewhere quiet, and you can tell us what brought you here Mr. Gibran. Please, follow me."

Before Gene had managed to get a word in, Alex had already lead the man away towards the interview room, so he decided to follow them.

When he arrived, Alex was standing outside the interview room, waiting for him. Just as he stretched out his hand to reach for the door handle, Alex grabbed his arm again.

"Let me handle this one Gene."

"No way Bolls, that man could be a nutter for all we know. I'm not lettin' you anywhere near him."

"He's not going to hurt me Gene. Didn't you see the look in his eyes? It was fear, not anger. Something is worrying him, and he needs help. Which means it's best if I do the talking. You can be in there with me, but please don't do or say anything that might distress him or make him angry."

Gene didn't look at all pleased, but finally he gave in.

"Fine, but you keep your distance, and I won't have you alone in a room with him for a second, understood?"

Alex nodded in agreement. "Okay, I promise."

At that moment, Shaz arrived, holding a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits.

"Morning ma'am, Guv. That poor man looked very upset, so I got some tea and biscuits for him. Hope that's alright?"

Alex smiled at the young WPC. "That's great Shaz, thank you."

Shaz left and Gene and Alex entered the interview room. Alex put the tea and biscuits in front of Nour, who was staring at his hands.

Gene and Alex sat down opposite him.

"So, Mr. Gibran. What is it you came here to tell us?" Alex asked.

He looked up at her. He was close to tears now, and he looked as if he hadn't slept in a while.

"I've come to report a missing person; my wife."

Alex opened a notebook and started to write down the facts. "When did you notice she was missing?"

"Around noon yesterday."

Alex kept writing, motioning him to continue his story.

"We had breakfast yesterday morning at our hotel, and after breakfast she complained of a headache. I had to go into town for a few hours on business, so I suggested that she went back to our hotel room to get some rest, and I would be back in time for lunch. And when I returned she was gone. I immediately noticed something was wrong, so I went to the police but they told me they couldn't do anything for me. Apparently in this country someone needs to be missing for at least 24 hours before the police start searching."

"That is the correct procedure Mr. Gibran," Alex confirmed. "But what made you think something was wrong, the moment you came back and found her missing from the hotel room? I mean, she could've just gone out for a moment."

"But you don't understand! We're not like you Western people. We're from Saudi-Arabia. My dear Rana has never gone out by herself before; this is the first time she's ever been in a foreign country. I didn't want to bring her here, but she asked me to. We're on our honeymoon you see, and she begged me to take her to Europe, to London. She said that all her life she had dreamt of coming here. So I gave in. And now she's missing and it's my fault!"

Nour buried his head in his hands in frustration. Alex had a sympathetic look on her face, as she reached out and tried to comfort him. Gene just seemed annoyed by the man's emotional outburst, but he didn't say a thing.

Alex gave Nour a moment to calm down, before she started speaking again.

"Alright Mr. Gibran, we need to go over all the details of your stay in London so far. Of course we'll need a detailed description of your wife; hair and eye colour, height, the clothes she was wearing etcetera. Do you happen to have a recent picture of her?"

He nodded, reached inside his jacket pocket, and handed her a picture. It showed a young girl, no more than seventeen years of age, with dark brown eyes and a pale skin, a black scarf draped loosely over her head, showing just a bit of intense black hair.

Alex took the picture from him, and studied it closely for a moment.

"She looks beautiful."

She got no real reply from him, but Alex knew the comment had made him feel more at ease.

"So let's go over a few details now, shall we Mr. Gibran?"

"Alright," he replied.

Alex reached for her pen.

"What is your wife's full name?"

"Rana Sulaiman."

"Age?"

"Sixteen."

Before Alex had time to realise what was happening, Gene had jumped up and dragged Nour off of his chair.

"You bloody paedophile! What kind of sick bastard are you?"He yelled as he banged the man's head against the wall behind him.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about? Please let go of me!" Nour pleaded.

"Gene, let him go!" Alex yelled. "Gene! In Saudi-Arabia it's perfectly normal for a sixteen-year-old girl to be married!"

Gene let him go and backed off slightly.

"You serious Bolls? That is seriously sick."

Alex looked at him. He was fuming with anger. There was no way he could continue this interview the state he was in.

Alex gave Nour an apologetic look. "You will have to excuse my colleague, Mr. Gibran. He is not familiar with the ways of your country and your culture."

Alex decided it was for the best to let everything cool off for a moment, so she dragged Gene out of the interview room.

"Gene, I think it's best if I go back in by myself."

"Not in a million years Bolly. I didn't even want you doing interviews in the first place now that you're pregnant. I'd rather have that bony arse of you glued to a chair behind a desk for the duration of your pregnancy, but since you're a stubborn little tart that's not going to happen. But you're not going in there alone!"

Alex rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Fine, then go back to CID and send someone over to conduct the interview with me. Ray, Chris, Shaz, I don't care. As long as you don't set foot in that interview room again, it's fine by me."

Gene didn't say another word. He turned around and strode away towards CID.

Alex watched him go. She could see he was tense, just by looking at his back. He could be a bloody ignorant Neanderthal sometimes, she thought to herself. But the fact that he was worried about her, and was trying to protect her and the baby was really sweet; even though his methods of doing so were a little old-fashioned.

After a few minutes she saw Chris coming towards her.

"The Guv send me boss, uh I mean ma'am."

Alex smiled. She was glad Gene had decided to send Chris and not Ray. He would certainly have beaten the crap out of that poor man as well. At least she could rely on the fact that this wasn't going to happen with Chris around.

"Come on," she said to him. "We've got to interview a man about his missing wife."

* * *

Half an hour later Alex and Chris had finished the interview. They had gone over all the whole story twice, and had written down all the info Nour had given them. As they walked back into CID, Alex immediately noticed Gene sitting in his office, legs up on his desk and a glass of whiskey in his right hand. She walked in and sat herself down on the edge of his desk. Gene didn't respond to this in any way.

She looked at him for a moment, before she started speaking.

"Look, I'm sorry about what just happened Gene. But we needed to get some answers out of him, and all you did was frighten the poor man. Although I disagree with your method of interrogation, it is often very effective. But not in this case. This man needed a more subtle approach."

Gene still didn't reply as he continued to stare at the amber liquid in his glass.

_Seems I'll have to do all the talking_, Alex thought to herself.

"Don't get me wrong Gene, I don't agree with the situation either. In my opinion it's very wrong to arrange marriages for 16 year old girls. I know many of the girls are even much younger than that when they are married off to some man they don't know. But we can't let our own opinions and feelings get in the way of the investigation. We just have to accept that their culture is the way it is; we have to help people, regardless of their cultural or religious beliefs."

"Of course I know you don't agree with it either Bolls, I know you better than tha'. It's just…I don't know. I get so angry at these bastards, and I find it 'ard to control myself, ya know?"

Alex reached for Gene's hand, and squeezed it slightly. "I know Gene. It's not your fault. It's just the way you are. You have very strong feelings about what's right and what's wrong, and I admire that in you. It's a beautiful quality."

Gene cast her one of his rare, but beautiful smiles. "Easy on the flattery Bolls, need to keep me feet on the ground eh? "

He planted a light kiss on the top of her hand, before letting go of it. "Best crack on with our investigation then. What d'you suggest we should do Bolly?"

"I suggest we go and check out the hotel. You know, have a look around, talk to the staff to see if they saw anything suspicious." Alex said.

Gene knocked back the last of his drink and got up.

"Right Bolly, I'll get me coat." Was all he said before he strode out of the office.

* * *

About half an hour later they arrived at the Claridge's Hotel.

"Well well, this is a posh place, ain't it Bolly?" Gene commented as they entered the building and made their way over to reception.

"It certainly is, it looks absolutely amazing!"

"Yeh well don't get any ideas into yer head. I'm not exactly a poor bloke, but I will never be able to afford to take you to a place like this."

"And I wouldn't want you to," Alex replied as she briefly squeezed his hand, "I'd be much happier if you took me to a less fancy hotel. I mean, this is nice and I think it looks beautiful, but it's not me, and it certainly isn't you."

"Good to know," Gene answered with a wink. "Now let's go and do some work Bolly."

Gene had a quick word with a woman at the reception desk and within 10 minutes the hotel manager had come over to let them have a look at the hotel room.

It was a beautiful suite on the top floor, with a lovely view over the city. Gene and Alex had a quick look around, checking closets, bedside tables and suitcases, but found nothing that would help them with Rana's disappearance.

Gene turned to the manager. "Do you happen to have security cameras installed in the lobby and by the entrance?"

"Yes we do."

"Would it be possible for us to have a look at the tapes?" Alex asked.

"Certainly, follow me please," the manager replied.

They spent the next hour ploughing through the security footage they'd been given, until they finally found something.

"Gene." Alex gave him a nudge. "I think that's her," she said as she pointed towards the screen, where they could see a young, dark haired girl leaving the hotel in a hurry. It was definitely her.

"What's the time on the tape?" Gene asked.

"11.20," Alex answered. "Not too long before her husband came back to the hotel. She was either stepping out briefly, or she must've planned this all along."

"What do you mean by that Bolly? Do you think she left on her own accord, rather than being abducted?"

"Well I don't know if that's the case, but I wouldn't rule it out completely, no. She's a young girl, who grew up in a country where women have no rights whatsoever. I wouldn't be surprised if she got a taste of freedom and decided to act upon it. You may have noticed that she wasn't even wearing a headscarf on the security camera footage, whereas in her own country she has to be completely veiled when she leaves the house."

"Right, we better get back to the station then Bolly. If she wasn't abducted, but just doesn't want to be found, it might be a lot harder to get her back," Gene said as he put the tape in the pocked of his coat.

"Are we even allowed to take that tape?" Alex asked.

"Dunno Bolls, and I don't care. We might need to take a closer look at it later."

* * *

They made their way back to Fenchurch East, with Gene continuously breaking the speed limit, and Alex telling him to slow down. By the time the Quattro came to a screeching halt outside the station entrance, Alex felt dizzy and stumbled as she climbed out of the car.

"Jesus Gene, do you really have to drive like a maniac all the time? We weren't even in a hurry!"

Gene shrugged his shoulders. "That's the way I always drive Bolly. If you don't like it, don't get in the car with me." And with that he made his way up the steps towards the entrance.

Alex rolled her eyes in annoyance, but decided not to say anything. She could tell Gene was on edge, and it had everything to do with her sending him out of the interview room that morning. He had let her have her way, and it had obviously frustrated him. And since Gene wasn't the kind of man who sat down and talked about his feelings, she was now paying for it this way.

When she entered CID, Gene had already gathered the team round to start briefing them about the case. He held up a photo of Rana.

"Right you lot, this girl has gone missing and we need to find her. She was last seen leaving the Claridge's hotel yesterday at 11.20 am. Her husband thinks she might've been abducted, but DI Drake thinks it's possible that she has run away and doesn't want to be found. In that case, it makes our investigation a lot more difficult. So we need to start looking, fast!"

A chorus of "yes Guv" could be heard, before everyone scurried off to start working.

"Chris, Raymondo! I want you to go back to the hotel and take statements from chambermaids, bellboys and everyone else who might've seen something."

"Yes Guv" they replied in unison, and quickly left.

Gene turned to Alex. "Right Bolly, I've got a meeting with the Chief Super now. Hope you can manage without me for an hour or so."

And with that he turned around and left.

With a big sigh, Alex let herself fall back into her chair. _I'm not going to let this get to me. His mood will pass_, she thought to herself.

All of a sudden she felt a hand on her right shoulder; it was Shaz.

"Everything alright with you and the Guv, ma'am?"

"Yes everything's fine Shaz. We got into an argument about his interviewing methods this morning, and now he's just being his grumpy old self. It'll pass."

"Glad to hear it ma'am." Shaz smiled. "Is there anything I can help you with in the meantime?"

"Yes actually there is Shaz. You can go over Mr. Gibran's statement with me, to see if there are any inconsistencies. I would like to rule him out as a suspect."

"So you don't think he has anything to do with the disappearance?" Shaz asked.

"No I don't think so," Alex replied. "He was beside himself with worry, and he seemed to really care about her. So I don't think he has anything to do with it. But of course you can never be sure."

Gene had returned about an hour later, still a bit moody, but less than before, and the rest of the afternoon was spend going over witness statements and making phone calls, with little result.

At 6, most of the team went off to Luigi's, and Gene and Alex headed home. The drive home was spend in silence, with Gene concentrating on the traffic, and Alex staring out of the window. He was driving more carefully than he had that morning and afternoon, so he had taken notion of Alex's outburst earlier on. They stopped off on the way to get some food to take home, since they both didn't feel like cooking. Alex was too tired and Gene too preoccupied.

At home they were greeted by Molly, who had taken the bus home earlier that afternoon.

"Are you ok mum? You look tired."

"Don't worry Molls, I'm fine. It's just that a girl has gone missing today, and we need to find her. But the problem is we just don't know where to start looking."

"That's awful." Molly looked shocked. "How old is she?"

"16 years old."

"Only a few years older than me then," she replied.

"That man this morning, was he the one who reported her missing?"

"Yes, it was her husband," Alex replied.

Molly looked at her mother in disbelief. "Husband?"

Gene hadn't said anything since they arrived home, but at this moment he felt it was time to let himself be heard.

"Yeh Molls, 16 and married. Don't get any ideas into that pretty little head of yours though. Because if you ever do, I'll have to get those ideas out of yer head again. By force, if necessary."

Molly grinned. Gene really had a way with words. But as she looked up into his face, she didn't see him laughing. He was dead serious about this. In a strange way this was a reassuring thought though. At least someone, apart from her mum, would always be looking out for her, and protecting her. It made her feel very safe and secure.

Alex looked at Molly and Gene. Both were looking at each other, their minds probably going over all the things that had just been said.

"So, I think we should eat now. Would be a shame to let dinner get cold, wouldn't it?" she said, hoping it would be enough to change the subject. She'd had enough of this case and everything about it for today.

Both Molly and Gene snapped out of their own chain of thoughts.

"Yeah, dinner. Good idea Bolly," Gene mumbled.

* * *

The phone rang.

A couple of mumbled expletives could be heard, as Gene's left arm shot out from under the covers, in search of the source of that rudding noise.

"Hunt!" he barked into the phone.

It was silent for a moment, as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line.

"Bloody hell Skip, you know what time it is? It's bleeding 5.30 in the morning!"

Another moment of silence.

"You what?"Gene practically yelled as he sat upright in bed. "Yeh, we'll be right there."

And with that, he hung up the phone.

Gene turned around, and poked Alex, who was still half asleep, in her side.

"C'mon Bollykeks, we've got work to do."

"Hmm…donwanna, tis early," she mumbled from under the covers.

"They found a body Alex," Gene replied.

That did the trick. "What?"

"Yeah, body of a young girl. Fits the description, so we're going over there now."

Both of them quickly got dressed, and Alex phoned Shaz to ask her to come over to look after Molly and to get her to school.

The relatively calm driving of the night before had vanished into thin air, as Gene manoeuvred the Quattro through the empty streets of London at a dangerous speed.

Alex's mind was working overtime. What if it was the girl they were looking for? What could possibly have happened to her? After all, she didn't know anybody in London, it was her first time in this country. So who on earth would want to kill her?

**TBC**

* * *

**Well, I hope that was alright for a first instalment. More soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Something I forgot to say previously: A really big thank you to Timeless A-Peel for her beta work, continuous support and encouragement. I don't think I would've finished this fic without her help.  
And secondly: thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and subscribed. It really means a lot to me!_

* * *

Alex was so lost in her own thoughts, that she didn't even notice that they had arrived at the crime scene. She nearly jumped up out of her seat as Gene opened the car door.

"C'mon Bolls, can't sit there daydreaming, we've got a job to do."

Alex got out of the car quickly, and they started making their way over to where the coroner stood waiting for them.

"So Harry, what have you got for us?"Gene asked as he shook the man's hand.

"Sad business here Gene. Young girl, I'd say no more than 18 years old. Hit over the head with a blunt instrument. Of course I can get you more details later, once I've done a thorough examination."

"Can we see the body now?"Alex asked. "I really need to know if it's the girl we're looking for."

"Yes of course, sorry to keep you waiting. Bloody cold isn't it?" Harry replied. "It's this way, follow me."

As they made their way over to where the body was lying, they saw Chris and Ray, who had arrived not long before them.

"Morning Guv, ma'am" they said in unison.

"I think it's the girl we've been looking for ma'am," Chris said as he looked down at the body. "I believe I've got a picture somewhere, I brought it along so we could check if it's really her."

Chris started to search his pockets frantically, but found nothing.

"Must've lost it," he said as he grinned sheepishly.

"It's ok Chris, I don't think we need the picture. It's definitely her," Alex said.

Having said that, she quickly turned around and started walking away from the body. She was used to crime scenes, and normally she had no problem dealing with them, but right now she was finding it hard to fight back her tears. She didn't want to be seen breaking down in front of her colleagues, least of all Gene, who would immediately think she wasn't up to the job anymore, and would have her behind a desk before you could say _fire up the Quattro.  
_

She decided to sit and wait in the car, while Gene, Ray and Chris finished dealing with a few formalities concerning the body and the crime scene. By the time Gene got into the car, she had wiped the tears from her cheeks and had managed to steady her breathing. Although she had done a good job at composing herself, Gene wasn't falling for it.

"What happened back there Bolls?"

"Nothing Gene, I was just feeling a little queasy so I decided to sit down for a bit," Alex replied, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible.

"You sure?" Gene asked.

"Yes I'm sure. I'm fine, trust me," Alex reassured him.

Gene still wasn't convinced. "I shouldn't have brought you along this morning. I should've known this would upset you."

"So you're saying this doesn't upset you Gene? Seeing that young girl there, lying face down in the mud? A horrible crime has been committed, it's supposed to upset people! Now I can't help the fact that you're such a bloody Neanderthal sometimes, but at least I am in touch with my emotions!"

Alex didn't know what exactly caused her outburst just now, but she was fuming with anger.

Gene took a deep breath, trying not to respond immediately, which would cause him to say stupid things he'd later regret, and he didn't want to upset Alex any further.

He turned slightly so he was facing her, and took her hands in his.

"Of course it upsets me Alex. A young girl has been brutally murdered, and I will personally see to it that the scumbags responsible for it will go down, even if it's the last thing I do. But I've been doing this for a long time, much longer than you, and you can't let your emotions get in the way of your job. It blurs your vision; stops you from thinking straight."

Alex sniffed, as more tears were forming in her eyes. "You're right, of course you're right. I don't know what came over me just now. I'm sorry."

"It's okay Bolly, probably just hormones eh?" Gene grinned.

Alex slapped his arm playfully. "Oh shut up you, and drive us to the station already."

* * *

Back at the station, Gene gathered round everyone in CID and gave them a quick briefing about the events of that morning.

"Right, listen up everyone. We've found a body early this morning, and it's 99% sure that it's the girl we were looking for. All we need now is for the husband to formally identify her. Which means this is now a murder investigation instead of a kidnapping. Now we're going to nail these bastards who killed her, so I need everyone at its best. Is that understood?"

This was answered with a chorus of "Yes Guv" from the team.

He turned to Alex. "DI Drake, anything to add that might help us with the investigation?"

Alex was caught off-guard, as she hadn't expected Gene to want any input from her at this stage; but she quickly composed herself and stood up in front of the team.

"Well, at this stage there isn't much for me to add to be honest. It seemed like a very easy story at first. A young girl, away from her home country for the first time, discovers this free world which is so completely different from her own, and decides to make the most of it. Now we had our suspicions that she'd run away and might or might not have been kidnapped. I think it's safe to say now that she was indeed kidnapped, but we have no idea why. So we need to find out the reason why she was taken and why she was killed. So far we have no leads whatsoever. So try to investigate every tiny detail you can find, no matter how unimportant or insignificant it might seem. Remember; everything is significant."

And with that she sat down again and left it to Gene to end the briefing.

"Chris, Ray, I want you to do the door-to-doors. Both in the area of the hotel she was staying at, and in the area where she was found. If anyone has seen or heard anything, take a statement, and bring them in for questioning if that seems necessary."

"Yes Guv," they both answered and quickly made their way through the double doors of CID.

Alex turned to Gene. "So, what are we going to do?"

"I am going to pick up the husband, because we need a formal ID on the body. After that, the coroner can conduct his autopsy, and once we get the results, we might actually get somewhere with our investigation, because so far we have nothing," he replied. "But first, I'm gonna take you 'ome."

Alex's eyes widened in surprise. "What? What do you mean you're taking me home? I'm just as much a part of this investigation as anyone else is!"

"Look, you're still a bit shaky after what happened at the crime scene this morning, so I think it's best if you take the rest of the day off."

He took her hand, not caring that they were in the middle of CID and that there were people around. "Alex, it's for your own good. I'm just tryin' to protect ya."

"That's very sweet of you Gene, but I don't need protection. I'm fine, and besides, you need me on this case. You can't be in the same room with that man for more than two minutes before you beat him to a pulp. I'm staying, and I'm coming with you right now."

Gene sighed. He wasn't happy about this at all, but he knew that once Alex had made up her mind, nobody would be able to tell her otherwise.

"Alright then Bolly, get yer coat."

Alex couldn't help but smile. Gene really was too easily convinced these days.

"Oh wait, one more thing before we go." She turned to Shaz. "Could you please go over Mr. Gibran's statement again for me Shaz, just to see if there's anything odd about it. You know, little details that don't add up, things like that."

"Alright ma'am." Shaz smiled. She wished she could be really involved with the cases, but she was grateful that Alex gave her some interesting work to do. At least it was a lot better than just typing up reports.

* * *

As they pulled up at the hotel for the second time in three days, Gene turned to Alex.

"Bolls, I think it's best if you do most of the talking for now. We didn't get off to a very good start, and if I have to tell the husband that his wife is dead, things might get ugly ya know."

"See, you do need me. Told you so." Alex briefly stuck out her tongue and got out of the car.

"Bloody women," Gene mumbled, before he got out of the car and followed her inside the hotel.

Alex knocked on the door of the bridal suite.

A voice came from inside. "Who is it?"

"Mr. Gibran, it's DI Alex Drake. I would like to talk to you if it's not inconvenient."

The door opened. Nour Gibran was stood on the other side; he looked rough, as though he hadn't slept for days. He managed a weak smile for Alex, and shot a foul look towards Gene.

"Please, do come in."

He walked towards the sitting area, and motioned them to follow.

"Do sit down. If you need more information, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. I've already told you everything I know."

"No it's now what we're here for." Alex paused for a moment, and took a deep breath before she continued. "Mr. Gibran, we found a body this morning, and we're almost certain that it's your wife. I'm so very sorry."

Nour stared at her in disbelief. "No, no it can't be her. You must've gotten it all wrong. She just ran away, maybe she was kidnapped. But not dead, she can't be dead," he stammered.

He looked up, and was met by Alex's eyes, who by now were welling up.

"If you're up to it, we need to take you down to the morgue to formally identify her. I know this is a lot to ask Mr. Gibran, but it really has to be done. Then we can continue our investigation."

"W-who would want to kill her? She was just an innocent young woman who didn't do harm to anyone." He had started shaking now, all the pent up emotions and frustrations from the last few days spilling out all at once.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out, I promise you." Alex reassured him. "If you're not capable of coming with us now, we could always come back later today."

"No, I think it's best if I do it now. Get it over with."

Alex nodded in agreement. "Yes, I think that's a wise thing to do. If you'd like to follow me outside to the car."

Alex looked around at Gene for the first time since they had entered the hotel suite. As usual, his facial expression was hard to read. She was surprised at the way he had composed himself. When he said he would let her do most of the talking, she had expected him to let her go on for a while, and then interrupt when the conversation started to annoy him. But he hadn't done anything like that, and had let her get on with what she was doing. She had never seen him act like this before. _Maybe he's finally starting to learn_, she thought to herself.

* * *

Gene, Alex, Nour and Harry the coroner were all standing in the mortuary. Alex shivered involuntarily; whether from the cold, or just from the fact that she was in a mortuary, she didn't know. Identifying and investigating dead bodies wasn't her favourite chore, but it was part of the job, and over the years she had learned to deal with it.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Alex asked Nour. "We could always do it later today if you don't feel up to it."

"N-no it's fine. I want to do it now." He replied, trying his best to keep his voice in check.

Harry pulled back the sheet that up until then had been covering the shape on the table in front of him, revealing the head of a black haired girl. There was no doubt about it, it was definitely Rana. Nour's whole body tensed at the sight of his dead wife, lying there in front of him. Her face was still beautiful, and completely unharmed. But he didn't fail to notice the large injury on her head.

He pointed at it. "Is that what killed her?"

"It is most likely the cause of death, yes." Harry answered. "Of course I can't say anything with 100% certainty until I've completed the post-mortem."

Nour had to swallow hard when the word 'post-mortem' was mentioned. "I'd like to go back to my hotel now please," he whispered.

"Of course, we'll get someone to drive you back." Alex replied, putting a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

After making sure that Nour was getting a ride back to his hotel, Gene and Alex headed back to CID.

"So where do you think we should go from here?" Alex asked Gene as they made their way through the long corridors.

"I suppose a quick briefing, and then an early night for everyone," Gene answered. "There isn't much we can do until we get the results from the post mortem, which won't be here before tomorrow morning."

Before Alex had the chance to reply, they were interrupted by Viv.

"Guv, man at reception wants to talk to you. Says it's about the case."

"Who is it Skip?" Gene asked.

"Says his name's James Anderson. He told me he needs to speak with you urgently."

Gene turned around. "Coming with me Bolls?"

"Of course I am." Alex replied, already making her way to the front desk.

* * *

James Anderson was a man in his early 30s, with messy blonde hair. He was the kind of man Alex could definitely have gone for in the past (or was that the future?). But not anymore. _Not a patch on Gene_, she thought to herself, as she sat herself down opposite the man in the interview room.

"So, Mr Anderson, what's this you've come to talk to us about?" Alex asked.

"Well, it's about this girl that was found dead. I read about it in this morning's paper."

"You what?" Gene bellowed. "I'm gonna kill whichever bastard leaked to the press about this!"

"Just calm down Gene, we'll deal with that later." Alex motioned him to sit down.

"Don't worry sir, the article didn't give away many details. That's why I'm here," James said. "I just need to know if the girl that was found happens to be Rana Sulaiman."

Both Gene and Alex were lost for words. How on earth could he have known about Rana?

"Mr. Anderson.." Alex started.

"Please, call me James."

"Right then James, can you tell me how you know about Rana? If our information is correct, this was the first time she ever came to England, and that she knew no one here."

James sighed. "It's complicated. To cut a long story short; I work for an American company, and I was send to work in Saudi Arabia for a year. I lived on an American compound, just outside the city of Riyadh, but I spend a lot of my spare time in the city. One day, in a shopping mall, a young girl dropped her purse, and I picked it up for her. Of course I couldn't see what she looked like, since she was wearing her mandatory burqa, but she dropped a note at my feet with her phone number on it. Apparently many Saudi girls do these sort of things. They're not allowed any contact with strange men, and this is their way of secretly communicating with them. It's a very risky business, and you have to make sure the religious police doesn't catch you. Anyway, I got in touch with her, and we started meeting in secret on a regular basis."

"You were in love?" Alex looked surprised.

James threw his hands up in defence. "No nothing like that! She wanted to run away from home, and she needed my help. She told me she wanted to move to England, to live in a flat all by herself and go to university. She came from a wealthy family, so she could easily afford it. She offered to pay me £100.000 if I helped her. She paid me half of it in advance, and I would get the rest once she was safely settled here. I would get her a flat, and help her enrol at a university here."

"But how on earth were you going to do all of this? How were you planning on getting her out of the country?" Alex asked.

"That was the best part of the plan, we didn't have to." James replied. "She had convinced her fiancé to take her to London on their honeymoon. She told me he would have to attend some meetings as well while they were down here, so we decided that she should escape while her husband was away on business. She contacted me four days ago that Nour was going to be away the next morning, so we decided that she should make her escape then. We had arranged to meet at her new flat, but she never showed up. At first I thought her husband might've caught her sneaking away, or that she'd chickened out at the last minute, but when I read the papers this morning, I got suspicious."

"Yeah, we still need to find out which bastard leaked information to the press," Gene mumbled.

"We'll do something about that later, Gene" Alex said. "Besides, it's not all bad. Thanks to the article, James was able to come to us."

Gene nodded in agreement. "Got a point there Bolls."

Alex quickly finished writing down the notes she'd been taking. "So that's all you know about Rana. Nothing more you can tell us about her?" She asked James.

James tapped his fingers on the table in front of him, as he tried to think of what to say. "I'm sorry inspector, it's all a bit of a blur at the moment. Are there specific things you're looking for, or just general facts?"

"Well, anything that might seem relevant to our investigation. Do you know if she was meeting other people apart from you, girlfriends, other men maybe? What were her other plans for the future, apart from feeling the country. Her hopes, her fears? Anything that might be useful to us."

"She was in love," James answered. "I don't know who with, she never told me that. I don't know whether it was serious, or if the feelings were mutual. Just that she was in love, and really didn't want to marry the man her father had picked out for her."

Alex looked up in surprise. "So you haven't got a clue who this mystery man was?"

James shook his head. "No idea."

"Did she ever mention something about running away together with a man?"

"No, when she spoke to me about her plans, it was always just about her. She never mentioned anyone else."

"You sure she weren't in love with you?" Gene asked all of a sudden.

"Quite sure," James answered. "I was just a friend to her, who she could talk to, and who was helping her to start the new life she was so desperately craving. That's all. Besides, even if she had tried anything on with me, it wouldn't have worked." He paused for a moment, before shyly adding; " I'm gay you see."

Before Gene could make a snarky comment at this last remark, he felt the heel of Alex's boot dig into his foot, which made him decide to keep his mouth shut..for now at least.

"Thank you for your time James," Alex said as she stood up. "I think we've got all the information that we need for now. You've been very helpful, thank you."

"I just hope it'll be of any use to your investigation," he answered as he shook both Alex and Gene's hand.

"I 'ope you won't mind staying in the area for a couple of days, ya know, just in case we need to ask you some more questions," Gene added.

"No problem Mr. Hunt, I wasn't planning on going anywhere anyway."

They lead him out of the interview room, towards the front desk. "If you wouldn't mind leaving your contact details with our desk sergeant here, we'll be on our way again. Again, thank you very much for your time," Alex said, as she shook James' hand again.

* * *

They walked back towards CID in silence.

"What ya thinking about Bolls?" Gene asked as they arrived at the great double doors.

"I'm not sure," she replied as she pushed the door open. "This idea about a mystery man intrigues me, but I don't know why. Call it a gut feeling, but I think we need to look into this."

"But 'ow Bolls? Her family and everyone else she knows live in Saudi-bloody-Arabia."

Alex sat down behind her desk. "I want the coroner to be very thorough in his examination. She wasn't hit on the head and killed because she was accidentally in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's more to this than meets the eye, I can feel it. "

"Yeah, I think you might be right" Gene agreed. "But what do you want him to look for?"

"I don't know, anything out of the ordinary. Anything you wouldn't find on a normal 16-year-old girl. Let him do it as soon as possible."

"Okay Bolls, I'll call him straightaway, " Gene said and he disappeared into his office to make the phone call.

He emerged again 5 minutes later.

"Right boys and girls, it's beer o'clock, so mush."

Everyone quickly picked up their things and left, glad that another day was over and that they could go home and relax.

Once everyone had left the office, Alex got up as well. Just as she went to put on her jacket, she felt Gene coming up behind her and sneaking his arm around her waist. "So what'dya say Bolls, wanna get out of here?" he mumbled into her ear, before he slowly started kissing her neck.

"Hmm..definitely. I'm exhausted," Alex said, as she closed her eyes and surrendered himself to his touch.

The fingers of his left hand started to circle idle patterns over her stomach. "This little 'un wearing you out then?"

"Yes, but it's okay," she sighed. "I don't really mind."

Gene continued to place kisses on her neck, slowly moving towards the bare skin of her left shoulder, when Alex stopped him. "Gene, you really have to stop now, or else we'll never get home. Molly's waiting for us."

Gene let out a low grumble as he reluctantly pulled away from her.

"Don't look so disappointed Gene, I never said we couldn't finish this later." Alex gave him a quick wink before she exited the office.

He shook his head as he quickly followed her out. "That woman will be the death of me someday."

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks again for everyone who has reviewed, favourited and subscribed. It really means a lot to me!_

* * *

_Chapter 3_

A few hours later, Gene was sitting in their back garden, smoking a cigarette. He really was going soft, he thought to himself. No other woman could ever have made him smoke outside. But then again, there was no other woman quite like his Bolly.

He turned around and looked through the living room window. Alex and Molly were sitting on the sofa watching TV; Alex was absent-mindedly playing with Molly's hair, as the young girl was snuggled up close to her mother. Both were completely oblivious to the fact that he was stood there watching them. Just looking at them filled him with an intense feeling of happiness. Ever since he'd gotten together with Alex, he'd been experiencing all these kind of emotions he never knew existed. At first it had scared him, but he soon realised that there was no need for any of that. He knew he loved both of them with every fibre of his being, and even though he might never be able to actually say those words, he would make sure to show them how he felt, in every possible way.

Yes, Alex was a fruitcake, and Molly was so like her mother in every way, that together they would surely be the cause of many a headache in the years to come. But he didn't mind; he had never felt happier in all his life.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but his cigarette had long finished, and he'd started to shiver in the cold December air. He got up and quickly re-entered the welcoming warmth of the kitchen.

"Tea Bolls? Molls?" he asked as he poked his head around the corner into the living room.

"Yes please" it sounded in unison.

This made him grin. _So much alike in every way_, the thought.

* * *

The three of them sat in the living room for a while, just sipping their tea and watching television. It struck Alex how easily they had turned into a proper family unit in less than a year's time. Things had never been awkward between her and Gene, not even when they'd first started living together. When Molly joined them, she had expected that they'd be going through a rough patch for a while, but none such thing had happened. It was as though everything was meant to happen the way it did. For the first time in her life, Alex felt as if she really belonged somewhere.

She hardly remembered her early childhood, the years she'd spend with her parents. They'd both been workaholics, dedicated to their jobs, and Alex has spend a lot of time alone at her boarding school. After her parents' deaths, Evan made sure she got all the attention she could possibly need. He had dedicated his life to her upbringing. But no matter how stable and secure those years in his care had been, it had still just been her and him, not a "proper" family. It was something that Alex, deep down inside, had always craved.

So when she'd gotten pregnant with Molly, she'd hoped this would be her opportunity to finally establish that family she'd always dreamt of. But the dream was over before it had even begun. Pete turned out to be a lousy husband, and even worse of a father. It was something Alex had subconsciously known all along, but back then she hadn't wanted to see it. He'd hardly supported her at all during her pregnancy and when Molly was a newborn. By the time she was 6 months old, Pete had abandoned them, and Alex was left to fend for herself and her daughter. A not so perfect family yet again. But she had made it work, somehow. From then on, Alex had dedicated her life to her job and brining up her daughter, with the occasional help from Evan. Men hardly played a role in her life; her daughter took precedence over everything and everyone.

But now, for the first time in her life, she found herself in a situation that could be described as a normal family. Well, maybe not completely "normal", but it was the closest she'd ever get, and it was fine by her. For as far as she could tell, Gene had never known a real sense of normality in his life either. He hardly ever spoke about his past, but from the few things that he had told her, she knew that he'd had an abusive, alcoholic father, who used to drink his wages away, and made a habit of slapping him and his brother around, as well as his mother. As a psychologist, it certainly explained a big part of his behaviour. This was his first chance of a proper family life, too, and so far he was handling it all very well.

Molly was doing great too. The ease with which she had adapted to the 80s lifestyle had astonished Alex. Though teenagers still had their average teen problems, overall life in the 80s still seemed a lot easier; and it showed. She and Molly were closer now than they'd ever been. This of course had also a lot to do with the fact that Alex wasn't as career driven now, as she had been in 2008. Naturally she was still ambitious, and aimed at doing her job properly and thoroughly at all times, but the job just wasn't the centre point it once had been.

Next to her on the sofa, Molly yawned and stretched her arms above her head. "I think I'm going to bed now, I'm really tired."

"Okay, goodnight Molls."

Molly leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. "Night mum."

"Night Gene."

"G'night Molls," he answered, as he gave her a quick hug.

As soon as Molly left the room, Gene abandoned his favourite leather armchair, which he'd been sitting in for the best part of the evening, and joined Alex on the sofa. As he wrapped his arms tightly around her, she allowed herself to lean back against him, and rested her head on his chest.

"Hmm..s'nice like this Bolly," Gene murmured as he buried his face in her hair, kissing the top of her head lightly.

Alex didn't reply, apart from the content sigh that escaped her lips, as she closed her eyes and started drifting off to sleep.

However, her peaceful slumber was interrupted by Gene's voice. "How about we turn in soon as well Bolls?"

She tilted her head further back, so she could look him in the eye. "Good idea, I'd started to fall asleep already."

He planted a kiss on her forehead, and then motioned for her to get up off the sofa. "Can't let that happen Bolls. You made a promise back at the office, and I'm gonna hold yer to it."

She failed to repress a giggle as Gene drew her closer to him to steal a kiss. It was a long, passionate kiss, which made Alex weak at the knees. When he finally pulled away, she felt as if she could hardly stand up straight anymore.

"I think we should go upstairs now," she panted, still not fully recovered from that kiss.

"Thought yer'd never ask," her said as he scooped her up into his big strong arms, and carried her up the stairs.

* * *

The following morning, Gene strode into CID with such an air of confidence around him, that it was noticed by everyone, even Chris. To complete the spectacle, Alex followed not far behind, with the biggest smile plastered on her face.

"Looks like someone got lucky last night," Ray remarked, which made both him and Chris burst into a fit of laughter.

"You two really disgust me sometimes," Shaz said, as she turned around and walked over to Alex, who had just taken off her jacket, and sat down at her desk.

"Morning ma'am, how are you feeling today?"

"Morning Shaz. I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday, thanks." She replied.

"Good night was it ma'am?" Ray sniggered.

"Yes, as a matter of fact it was pretty incredible; not that it's any of your business of course," she replied with a smug look.

She turned her attention back to Shaz. "Any word from the coroner yet?"

"No not yet ma'am," she replied, "but I'm guessing we'll hear from him before noon."

The morning went by without anything eventful happening. Gene was in his office, making a few phone calls, Chris was folding paper planes and Ray was sat in his chair, catching up on some sleep. Shaz and Alex kept themselves busy by going over the witness statements yet again, to check them for inconsistencies, or anything out of the ordinary. They'd had no luck so far.

Alex was very glad to be getting some help from Shaz. She was a very bright girl, and definitely someone on whom Alex could bounce ideas off, in a way she couldn't with any of the other members of CID. For a while she'd been thinking about suggesting to Gene to give Shaz some more responsibility, and to make her a proper part of CID. To her surprise, when she'd finally told him about this idea, he had not only agreed with her, but also told her that he'd been playing around with that very same idea for some time now. So it was an easy decision to make. Shaz would start by getting more involved in the cases they were dealing with, and would likely soon be bumped up to WDC.

As it turned out, Shaz's prediction was right. Around half 11, Gene marched over to Alex's desk. "Get yer coat Bolls, coroner wants us down straightaway."

"We'll finish this later, okay?" she told Shaz, as she grabbed her coat and hurried after Gene.

* * *

They hurried towards the morgue, eagerly to find out what exactly the coroner had found. "Did he say anything about what he'd found?" Alex asked curiously.

"Didn't say anything Bolls, just told me to come down a.s.a.p."

Alex reached out to open the door leading into the morgue, as she felt Gene's hand over hers, stopping her from doing so.

"You sure yer fit to go in there?" he asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? It's not as if I've never been inside a morgue before."

Gene stared at his feet. "It's just that when we found the body, you didn't react too well an' all."

"I'll be fine Gene, promise. Don't worry." She gave him a reassuring look, and continued to push down the door handle she still had her hand on.

"Good morning Gene, Alex." Harry, the coroner, greeted them. _A tad too cheerful for someone who spends most of his time around stiffs_, Gene thought to himself.

"So what did you find then?" Alex asked impatiently.

"Well, it was very interesting," Harry began. "I was checking for all the normal things, stomach contents, you know that sort of things. And I came across some very interesting things."

Not in the mood for mind games, Gene replied. "Just get to the point, will yer Harry."

"Oh right, sorry. As it turns out, this young woman was pregnant."

Both Gene and Alex were stunned into silence for a moment. They'd expected many an outcome, but this certainly hadn't been on either of their lists.

"Pregnant? You mean as in very early stages of pregnancy? That would be a possibility, seeing as she got married about two weeks ago." Alex said.

Harry shook his head. "No, nothing like that. My guess is she was around 3 months along already."

"Christ on a bike!" Gene exclaimed.

Harry nodded in agreement. "You can say that again."

"So this supports James' story about the mystery man she was supposedly in love with. The baby can't have been her husband's, since they only got married two weeks ago like I said."

"What are you thinking Bolls? You think someone found out she was up the duff, and killed her because of that?" Gene asked.

Alex sighed. "Well we can't be sure of course, but we should definitely consider it as one of the possibilities."

"Right then, thanks again Harry." Gene turned around. "C'mon Bolls, let's get going, we've got some investigating to do. And I need a bloody drink!"

"So do I, if only I were allowed to." Alex murmured to herself.

* * *

After arriving back at CID, Alex sank into her chair with a sigh. These latest discoveries had put their investigation in a whole new perspective, but it also meant that the possibilities and motives for Rana's murder were endless. Thus far, the investigation was going nowhere, and nothing pointed to that changing anytime soon.

"Shaz!" Alex called out in her direction. "Are you busy at the moment?"

"Not really ma'am, why?"

"Good, it would be great if you could go over the case with me again. The coroner's done some new discoveries, but I'm having a hard time fitting them into the story."

"Fab!" Shaz responded with a smile.

Alex quickly talked through the coroner's findings with Shaz, and they then both went to work, starting with reading the post-mortem report again, and trying to link them to the statements, especially James's and Nour's.

After a fruitless hour, Alex dumped the files into a pile on her desk. "I'm stuck Shaz. I don't know what's wrong, but my brain just won't cooperate today."

"It's ok ma'am, I understand. And besides, you haven't got much to work with so I can't really blame you. There's just one thing I was wondering about; are you planning on letting the men get DNA tests? After all, that way you'll know for sure that neither Nour or James are the father of that baby."

"Good thinking Shaz, that had completely slipped my mind. I'll make sure that gets done first thing tomorrow morning."

"But tomorrow's Saturday, you won't be in then, will you ma'am?"

Alex smiled. "Definitely not. I, will be sleeping in tomorrow. But I don't think a DNA test will cause any problems. I'm sure both men will be very willing to cooperate."

Due to the lack of things to do, most of CID had already scurried off, either to Luigi's or home, leaving Shaz and Alex alone in the office, once again.

"Let's make it an early night today, what do you say Shaz?"

"Good idea ma'am. Are you coming down to Luigi's? I'm sure the rest of the gang will be there already."

"Uhm, no I think I'm gonna head home. You know, catch up on some much needed sleep."

"Alright then, have a good weekend ma'am."

"Thanks Shaz, you too." Alex replied, as she watched Shaz walk away.

* * *

"Anybody home?" Alex called out as she stepped through the front door.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Molly replied.

Alex took off her jacket, and put it on a coat hanger, before heading into the kitchen.

"So how was school?" Alex asked, as she pulled Molly into a tight embrace.

"It was alright. I have to do a book report for English, and I still haven't decided which book I'm gonna choose."

"Well, I can help you pick one if you like Molls. But it'll have to wait until after dinner, I'm starving."

Molly went upstairs to finish her homework, and Alex had started making dinner as she waited for Gene to come home. He promised her that he'd only stop off at Luigi's for a quick pint with the boys, and that he would head home straight after that. Her thoughts drifted off as she made a quick bolognaise sauce – Molly's favourite. Even though she was used to her new life now, it still felt strange from time to time; almost too good to be true. She, herself, had changed a lot too. It wasn't just Gene who had become a lot more domestic, but she had as well. Back in 2008, she'd had Molly and her career, and not much else. But since she'd always been so busy, her and Molly never really had the kind of life they were leading now. Alex had always enjoyed cooking, but in her old life she almost never got round to do it, so she either whipped up something simple, or they ordered take-out. She'd never expect that she, a stereotypical liberated 21st century woman, could enjoy domestic chores as much as she did. She had found this revelation truly astonishing at first. Of course it wasn't completely surprising that she was changing; after all, she'd spend so much time in the 80s already.

Gene got home bang on time, just as Alex had finished preparing dinner. The three of them ate in the kitchen, and Gene and Molly did the dishes together, as Alex retired to the living room to sit on the sofa and put her feet up. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful, as they were all tired; Gene and Alex from their long day at work, and Molly from being at school all week.

"So what would you like to do tomorrow Molls?" Alex asked.

Molly looked up from the book she was reading. "Don't know. We could go shopping I guess. What do you think?"

Alex smiled. "That is not a bad idea actually. I'm in desperate need of some new clothes."

"Yer always in need of new clothes Bolls, it's called being a woman." Gene interfered.

"Yes, thank you for that very insightful remark Gene. " Alex said as she playfully punched his arm. "But for your information, this time I really need them. None of my clothes fit properly anymore."

"S'okay Bolly, I was just teasing ya."

"I know," she nodded. "Unless you would like us to do something together Gene. We could always go shopping another day?"

"No, you go ahead. I think I'll go into work for a bit tomorrow morning."

At that remark, Alex gave him a questioning look. "Why? It's Saturday."

"There's a lot of work to be done Bolls. These past few days we've been focussing on that murdered girl so much, that we've pretty much neglected our other cases. Got some catching up to do."

Alex nodded in agreement. "That's true. The case has been very time consuming so far. Let's just hope all the hard work won't be for nothing."

"But 'ow about Sunday?" Gene asked.

Alex looked puzzled at this sudden remark. "What about Sunday?"

"Ya know, the three of us doing summat together."

"Oh yes of course," Alex replied. "What do you suggest we should do?"

"No idea." Gene answered. "What d'ya wanna do Molls?"

"Can I choose anything I like?" she asked."

"Well, as long as it's doable and within our budget, yes." Alex laughed.

Molly's eyes lit up with excitement. "Ooh, can we go to the ice-skating rink? It's not too far from here. I've wanted to go for a while now, but none of my friends want to come along, they all think it's lame." She rolled her eyes at that last comment.

"That's a nice idea Molls, though I hope you won't mind going ice-skating alone? I don't think it's actually safe for me to do that right now." Alex said.

"No that's okay mum. How about you Gene?" Molly asked.

"The Manc Lion doesn't do ice-skating Molls." Gene replied. "But I'll buy yer hot chocolate afterwards," he quickly added, as he saw the girl's disappointing look.

He was relieved to see her face light up again at that suggestion.

Alex couldn't help but smile. The two of them really had a funny way of communicating with each other. Gene was always teasing Molly, but in a very fatherly way, which was both funny and endearing to witness.

"Right, I think it's time for bed now Molls."

"But muuum!" Molly started to protest.

"No buts young lady. We've got a busy weekend ahead of us, and you need to be well rested. I'll come upstairs in a bit to say goodnight, okay?"

"Okay then," Molly sighed. "Night Gene."

"Night Molls," he called after her, as she made her way upstairs.

* * *

"So the Manc Lion doesn't ice-skate?" Alex said teasingly, as she snuggled closer to Gene on the sofa.

"That's right Bolls."

"Any particular reason why not?" She asked.

"Don't know 'ow to Bolls, I've never done it." He replied.

Alex started laughing. "The great Gene Hunt was embarrassed to tell a thirteen-year-old girl that he didn't know how to ice-skate. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be laughing, but that's actually quite cute!"

"I'm not cute Bolls. The Gene Genie might be a lot of things, but cute isn't one of them." He mumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry to say Gene," Alex said, as she pushed a stray lock of hair out of his face, "but that was definitely a moment that could be described as cute."

"Bloody hell Bolls, what do I need to do to convince you that I'm not?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something."Alex said teasingly.

"Right, you asked for this!" he said as he jumped forward and pushed her down on the sofa, tickling her as he went.

Alex burst into a fit of giggles. "Aaah, Gene stop it please! I'm convinced. Please stop. You know I'm ticklish!"

"S'right Bolls. Now repeat after me: The Manc Lion is not cute."

"The Manc – giggles – Lion – giggles – is not cute! Happy now?"

"It's a start," he said as he bent forward to kiss her.

**TBC**

* * *

_If you've got a spare moment, it would be great if you left a review. Even just a few words will do. I accept anonymous reviews as well :)_


	4. Chapter 4

_Thanks again for all the subscriptions, favourites, and of course lovely reviews!_  
_A bit of a shorter chapter this time, but I promise the next one will be extra long._

* * *

_Chapter 4_

"Shit, I completely forgot I had a meeting with the Super this morning," Alex said as she was getting dressed." I can't be there in time if I need to get Molly to school."

"No problem Bolls. I can do that" Gene said, as he stretched out in his side of the bed.

"Really? Are you sure it's no problem?" Alex asked.

"Positive. I've got nothing pressing to do this morning anyway," he replied.

Alex walked over to kiss him. "What have I ever done to deserve you?"

"Dunno Bolls. Might be my legendary prowess as a lover?"

"Hmm..I've no complaints in that department," she murmured as she kissed him once more.

* * *

The rain was pouring down as Gene and Molly sat in the Quattro.

Molly turned to Gene, who was focussing on the road ahead. "Gene, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Molls, ask away. Just as long as I don't have to take me eyes off the road," he replied.

"Why aren't you and my mum getting married?"

Gene hadn't expected this question to come up, and slammed the breaks in surprise, which resulted in a chorus of honking from the surrounding cars in the early morning traffic.

"Christ on a bike Molls, it's only a quarter past eight in the morning. Does your brain ever stop for a microsecond or what?"

Molly grinned. "Occasionally it does. But don't change the subject. Why aren't you getting married?"

"Who says we're not getting married?" Gene replied as he tried to manoeuvre the Quattro through the busy traffic.

"Well, you haven't proposed to her, have you?"

"No, I haven't, but that's not really the point."

"What do you mean?" Molly looked confused. "We're all living together as it is, you two clearly love each other, and you're having a baby. Seems very easy to me. Unless you don't want to marry her?" Molly gave him a questioning look.

"I can assure you Molls, that is not the case. Of course I wanna marry yer mum."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Well, you see Molls, it's yer mum that's the problem."

Molly still looked confused. "I don't follow."

"Here's the thing. Yer mum's brilliant. Got a head full of brains that woman, but sometimes she talks in such psychotwattery riddles that she could give an amoeba a migraine."

Molly grinned at this remark. His way of saying it might've been a bit unconventional, but he had a point there.

Gene continued. "A few months back I had actually planned on proposing to her, but I was waitin' for the right time you know. And when she told me about the baby, I knew I couldn't do it anymore. She would only think I'd propose to her because it was the "honourable thing to do". So I decided to wait, and leave it for another time. But I just haven't found the right moment yet."

Molly let the information sink in for a moment before she replied. "You've got a good point there. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised at such a reaction from my mum."

"Daft cow, doesn't know what she's missing out on," Gene grinned.

"So you will marry her someday then?" Molly asked.

"If she'll have me, then yeah, I'll definitely marry her."

"Ok then." Molly felt a lot more reassured now. Gene made her mum happy, and he was in it for the long haul. It was good enough for her.

The Quattro pulled up in front of the school.

"Right then mini-Bolls, out ya go."

"Thanks for dropping me off Gene."

And with that, she did something that surprised both herself and Gene; she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before she jumped out of the car to join her friends at the school gate.

* * *

Due to the heavy rainfall it took Gene twice as long to get from Molly's school to work. It was close to 9.30 when he finally entered CID.

"Right then, what've I missed?" he asked as he looked around the room expectantly.

Ray filled him in. "Not much Guv. Can't seem to get in contact with the girl's family, and the Saudi Arabian embassy are giving us a hard bloody time. Apparently they want us to hand over the body yesterday and they don't give a toss about our murder case."

Gene sighed. "Well that's just bloody great. Anything else?"

"No, that's about it Guv," Chris added.

"Well I'll be in me office then, let me know as soon as you've made a breakthrough. Granger! Tea, five sugars" he barked to Shaz before closing the office door behind him.

At around the same time Alex walked into CID, looking extremely annoyed and just about ready to punch someone in the face. She went straight for Gene's office and went in without knocking first.

"Ah Bolls, so yer finally gracing us with your presence," Gene teased her. "How did the meeting with the Super go?"

"Don't ask," Alex said as she let out a sigh. "All he did was nag to me about maternity leave, the possibility of working part-time and all sorts of nonsense. He went on and on!"

"Not the best way to start yer day with."

"Definitely not," she said as she perched herself on the edge of Gene's desk. "I stayed very polite throughout so now I need to vent my frustrations. Got anyone down in the cells that I can punch?"

"Couldn't do that to our suspects Bolls, you've got a mean left hook." Gene said as he pulled his face into a pained expression to emphasize his point.

"So how do you suggest I should let off steam then?" she asked him.

"Dunno Bolls, perhaps you could take up knitting?"

This comment made Alex's facial expression turn from annoyance into pure outrage.

"If you run that suggestion by me again I'll make sure your jaw and my left hook will make their re-acquaintance before you can say beer o'clock."

And with that she turned around and stormed out of his office.

Gene thought it wise not to follow her immediately after her outburst, so he let her be for half an hour before going out to look for her. After a good fifteen minutes of suffering Alex's verbal abuse and him profoundly apologizing, followed by the promise to get her tea and Garibaldis, she finally agreed to come back into work with him.

The rest of the day was spend trying to puzzle the very meagre details of their case together, and occasionally receiving angry phone calls from the Saudi Arabian embassy about Rana's body. All in all it wasn't a very productive day so Alex went home early to be with Molly, while Gene and the rest of the team headed for Luigi's.

* * *

"Mum, what do you think has happened to me in 2008?" Molly asked as she absent-mindedly stabbed at her food with her fork.

Alex, caught off-guard by her daughter's question, looked up in surprise. "In what way do you mean Molls?"

Molly sighed. "Well, you're almost definitely dead there. They were going to…switch you off, so I'm assuming they went along with that. Which means you'll be in this time forever."

"I would think so, yes." Alex nodded in agreement, inwardly shuddering at the thought of being 'switched off'.

"So what about me then?" Molly asked. "I don't know what happened to me. When they told me they were going to let you die, I collapsed, and everything went black. Next thing I know, I'm in your flat above Luigi's."

Alex grabbed her daughter's hand, as she'd clearly started to look distraught by now. "Molls darling, what's worrying you?"

Molly's bottom lip started trembling, desperately trying to fight back her inevitable tears. "W-what if I'm not dead there. What if…if I suddenly just disappear from this world again, and wake up back in 2008? I don't want that to happen!"

By now, the tears had started to flow rapidly, and Alex quickly moved to her daughter's side and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"I don't know Molls, but don't worry. Everything will be just fine. This is where you belong, with me and Gene."

Alex tried her best to comfort her daughter, but found it hard to do so convincingly. It frustrated her that she couldn't give her daughter a straightforward answer, or at least a more or less logical explanation. Alex liked logic, because it worked…at least it did, in most cases. But there was nothing straightforward or logical about the situation they had found themselves in, and so she felt lost.

She looked down at her daughter, and was met by a pair of watery blue eyes staring back up at her.

"I know I belong here mum, but you can't be sure about this can you?" She sniffed.

Alex decided honesty was the best option at this point.

"No," she said. "We can't be sure. But then again, we can't be sure about anything in life. My time-travelling adventures have taught me that much. We just have to take it day-by-day, and live life to the fullest, as much as we can. Will you try to do that for me?"

Molly nodded. "I will try, I promise."

"Good," Alex said as she planted a kiss on Molly's forehead. "Because life's too short to be spend worrying."

* * *

Molly had gone to bed early, clearly exhausted from her constant worrying. Gene wasn't home yet, which left Alex sitting alone on the sofa. Normally that wouldn't have been such a bad thing. She didn't have a lot of alone time these days, and usually she cherished those precious moments that she did have. But the things that Molly had said had put all kinds of thoughts and ideas into her head, and she didn't like it one bit. 

_What if Molly had a valid point?_ She asked herself. Strangely enough Alex hadn't given any of this much thought before. Perhaps because she'd been in this world for so long now it had all become so normal that she didn't even realise that there was the slightest possibility that it could easily end tomorrow. Perhaps not for her, as Molly had assured her that she was almost definitely dead in 2008. But what about Molly? She didn't know what had happened to her in the future, nobody in this world knew. Just the idea of her precious little girl being taken away from her again was almost too much for Alex to bear.

She had put on a brave face when she was talking to Molly, assuring her that everything would be fine. But in reality she was terrified. Terrified of what the future would have in store for her, whether it would contain all the people she cared about and who she needed most. What if, in some strange and twisted way, she was made to choose between the people she loved? She knew she couldn't, in whichever way possible. Whether it was choosing between the man she loved and her children, or even more cruel, choosing between her children, she knew it would be an impossible decision to make and that frankly she'd rather die. These thoughts alone scared her beyond her imagination, and all of a sudden she realised she was lying curled up into a ball on the sofa, sobbing and shaking violently at the thought of any of this happening to her in the future.

And at that moment her inner psychologist took over, and she made a conscious decision; she would push all these irrational thoughts from her mind and just live her life. It wouldn't be easy, after all it was difficult, if not impossible, to stop her brain from conjuring up these thoughts. But it was a necessity if she wanted to survive here and live a happy life. She had told Molly life was too short to be spend worrying, and it was about time she started listening to her own advice.

* * *

Gene came home at around ten o'clock. It was still early, and normally he'd have been happy to spend at least a few more hours out drinking with the lads. But tonight he had felt a sense of uneasiness creep over him that he couldn't seem to shake off. Initially he had tried to push the feeling away and tried to enjoy his evening, but eventually the feeling in the pit of his stomach had taken the upper hand and he had decided to head home.

He walked into the living room looking for Alex when he found her curled up on the sofa, where she'd fallen into a restless sleep. She was tossing and turning, and Gene could hardly bear to look at the pained expression on her face. He stood there for a moment, not sure of what to do. Clearly his feelings had been right, and it amazed and scared him equally. He always knew that they were the ones that had a connection, he'd even said as much on that dreadful evening before operation Rose, when everything had gone tits up. Looking back, he wondered how he could ever have doubted that connection between them. They completed each other perfectly, in every possible way. He instinctively knew what she was thinking and vice versa, and now he'd even started feeling when Alex was in a state of distress. He still didn't know whether to wake her or not, but that decision was made for him as she started to toss and turn more violently, and nearly rolled off the sofa in the process.

In a second he was at her side, gently waking her up.

"Alex love, what are yer doing 'ere sleeping on the sofa? Y'should be in bed."

Alex slowly opened up her eyes and saw his bright blue orbs staring back at her. She instantly felt a bit more relieved, knowing he was there for her.

"What's wrong Alex, did you have a nightmare or summat?"

"Oh, it's nothing serious Gene, don't worry. It's just that Molly wasn't feeling too great this evening and the worry must've taken the better of me. But it's ok now."

"Trouble with school? Or with 'er friends?" Gene asked.

"Just a small fight with a friend. But nothing serious, everything's fine now." Alex said quickly.

She hated lying to Gene like this, but she knew she could never tell him the real reason for Molly's distress. The only time she'd confided in him about being from the future it had ended disastrous, and it wasn't a place Alex wanted to return to. So she decided that this little white lie was in everyone's best interest.

Gene grabbed her hand and helped her get up off the sofa. "Come 'ere then Bolls, let's get you to bed. Can't have you looking like crap at work, or else I'll have nothing to look at."

Alex rolled her eyes in mock annoyance at his remark and made her way upstairs.

**TBC**

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_Please review :)_**  
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	5. Chapter 5

_Again thanks to everyone who's still reading, especially the people who continue to review. _

* * *

_Chapter 5_

She stood hesitantly in front of the building of Fenchurch East police station, wondering whether she should go in or not. After a few minutes her curiosity took the upper hand, and she started climbing the steps towards the main entrance. The front desk was unmanned, as the desk sergeant was probably down in the cells sorting out a problem. This enabled her to enter the building without being seen or stopped by anyone.

She was a woman of average height, a brunette with shoulder-length hair. She wore tight-fitted jeans and a loose green top, her black heels clacking on the floor as she walked through the long corridors of the station. The brunette came to a standstill as she approached the double doors at the end of the corridor. Again, she hesitated for a moment, asking herself whether she should go through them or not. Behind those doors, undeniably, lay the heart of Fenchurch East CID. She took a deep breath, and pushed through the doors with one swift movement.

CID was an oasis of silence. Chris was sat in his chair, his head lolling back and his mouth slightly ajar, as he was fast asleep. Ray had put his feet up on his desk, and was 'reading' something, most probably a dirty magazine. There were a few more men around, but they were all minding their own business, and nobody seemed to have noticed her coming in.

The woman made her way over to Ray's desk, and snatched the magazine from his hands.

"I see your reading material 'asn't changed a bit Ray," the woman said, with an unmistakeably Mancunian accent.

"What the bloody 'ell!" Ray started, but he fell silent as he looked up and saw his magazine snatcher.

"Cartwright! Wha' are you doing 'ere?"

"Thanks Ray, you're ever so kind. I'm doing very well, and yourself?" Annie replied, the undertone of sarcasm could be clearly heard.

"No need to get defensive 'ere. You just scared me 'alf to death."

"Yeah sorry about that. You were completely lost to your surroundings, and I just couldn't help me self." She grinned.

Ray turned around. "Oi Chris, look who's 'ere. Chris…CHRIS!"

Chris didn't respond, so Ray grabbed the magazine Annie was still holding, and threw it at the sleeping form of his colleague. This made Chris jump up, causing him to fall off his chair backwards, landing head-first on the floor.

"Ray, what did you do that for?" he asked with an indignant voice.

"We have a visitor, but you didn't wake up when I called you, you div!"

"Hiya Chris, good to see you again," Annie said as she smiled at him.

"Yeah you too Annie." He said. "So what brings you to London?"

"Research for a case I'm working on. Couldn't go back to Manchester without saying hello, now could I?"

"So how have you been?" Chris asked.

Ray felt this was his cue to leave. He didn't do 'small talk'. That was a poof's thing as far as he was concerned. So he left Chris and Annie to it, and went to sit in the little CID kitchen.

"You're married?" he heard Annie exclaim in disbelief.

Ray shook his head. "Show-off," he mumbled to himself.

"Chris, where's the Guv?" Annie asked. "I'd like to see him, too, before I leave again."

"Him and DI Drake are both out at the moment, but they should be back soon I think."

"So what's this DI Drake like then? Any good?"

"Oh she's really nice, and very good at what she does. Drives the Guv crazy sometimes though."

"She?"Annie looked surprised. "You have a female DI?"

"Yeah, only female DI in the MET apparently." Chris nodded.

"Well, I definitely want to meet her." Annie sounded curious.

She didn't have to wait long, because soon she heard two pairs of footsteps rapidly approaching CID. One, the sound of a pair of men's boots, the other, the clacking of a pair of heels, definitely a woman. She turned around as she heard the double doors swing open, and she took in the sight before her.

There he was; Gene Hunt, her Guv. Or at least he had been for many years. _He hasn't changed much_, she thought to herself as she continued to look at him. He'd lost some weight, and he had swapped his camel coat for a black one, but apart from that he still looked the same. Then her focus switched to the figure standing next to him. She was beautiful, and tall, nearly as tall as him - with dark brown curly hair that bounced off the sides of her head. Together they made a very good looking pair.

Though at this moment, Gene looked as though he'd seen a ghost.

"Hello Guv," Annie said nervously.

It took Gene a while before he replied. "Christ on a bike, you're the last person I would've expected to turn up here Cartwright." He finally said.

Alex nudged him in his side, and he didn't even have to look sideways to know what kind of look she was giving him. It was her 'don't be such a bloody Neanderthal and say something nice' look. So he composed himself, coughed nervously, and continued.

"Good to see yer Annie, what brings you here?"

"Research actually. DCI Weston send me here to pick up some files at Scotland Yard, and I thought I'd stop by here before going back to Manchester."

Before Gene could continue, he heard Alex cough suggestively.

"Oh yeah, let me introduce you two. This is DI Alex Drake. Alex, this is WDC Annie Cartwright."

"WDS actually Guv, got promoted last year." Annie corrected him.

Gene was momentarily stunned into silence by that new piece of information. "Oh, uhm..yeah well done Cartwright. Nice work."

"Thanks Guv." Annie grinned.

The two women decided to ignore Gene's slightly embarrassing behaviour, and shook hands.

"Nice to finally meet you Annie, I've heard so much about you." Alex said and smiled.

"Really?" Annie looked surprised. "It's really nice meetin' you too, though I have to admit I hadn't heard of you until half an hour ago."

"That's absolutely fine," Alex laughed.

"Come on, I'm sure we've got a lot to talk about," she said as she grabbed Annie's arm. "Let's go into Gene's office, it's a lot more quiet there. Are you coming as well Gene?" she called out to her DCI, who was still standing by the double doors, completely gobsmacked by everything that had just happened.

"Yeah coming Bolls," he said as he made his way over to his office to join the two women.

"So you've been bumped up to DS now." Gene said as they all sat down in his office.

"Yeah, about a year ago." Annie smiled. "I was really surprised, never saw it coming to be honest. I thought that after Sam…" she breathed in deeply, as she took a moment to compose herself before continuing. "I thought I wouldn't get very far without him, since he always supported me, and told me I could do anything I wanted. He instated confidence in me, and without that support I felt lost."

"Nonsense Cartwright. As much as I hated to admit it at first, you're a bloody good copper, even for a bird, and you didn't need a nancy boy like Tyler to tell you what yer worth!"

Annie smiled shyly at this slightly odd phrased compliment. "Thanks Guv, that really means a lot to me."

"You haven't seen any of them in a while, have you Annie?" Alex asked.

Annie shook her head. "Not for about three years now. Haven't seen any of them since they moved to London."

And then it dawned on Alex why the whole situation was so uncomfortable; they probably hadn't seen each other since Sam's death. She felt very stupid all of a sudden, for joining them in Gene's office, intending on joining in some ordinary 'what have you been doing lately?' banter.

She quickly got up and made her way over to the door.

"Where are you going Bolly?" Gene asked. A slight undertone of panic could be heard in his voice.

"I'm going to make myself useful and work on the case for a bit. I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll leave you to it." She replied. "I'll see you both later," she said with a smile, before she closed the office door behind her.

* * *

Alex sat behind her desk as she tried to work on the case, but she found it hard to concentrate. Her thought kept drifting off; she thought about Sam, and about her own life and everything that had changed. It wasn't long, no more than fifteen minutes later, when Annie exited Gene's office. She walked over to where Alex was sitting, to say goodbye to her before she left.

"Leaving so soon?" Alex asked.

Annie nodded. "Yeah, I won't take up anymore of your time. I've heard you're very busy with a case you're working on."

"Yes that's true. But it's not as if we're really getting anywhere with it at the moment. It's very frustrating." Alex replied.

"Well, it was very nice meeting you Alex," Annie said as she stuck out her hand.

"Really nice meeting you too Annie," Alex replied as she shook her hand.

"Wait, how long are you in London for?" Alex asked, just as Annie started walking away.

"I'm here for another day. Why?"

"Come and have a drink with us tonight at Luigi's. We'll be there around 6. It's only across the road from here." Alex smiled.

"Okay, I will. Thanks for inviting me Alex."

"No problem. See you tonight then!"

"Yeah, see you tonight. Bye," Annie said. And with that, she turned around and left.

* * *

Later that day, Alex was sitting at a table in Luigi's by herself, sipping a glass of his ridiculously overpriced fizzy water. She waved to Annie who had just entered the restaurant, and motioned her to come over.

"I'm glad you came Annie. How was the rest of your day?"

"Pretty good," Annie said, as she sat herself down opposite Alex. "Read through a few case files, and I think they're going to be very useful for our investigation."

"I'm glad to hear that." Alex smiled. "Would you like a glass?" she asked, pointing towards the bottle of sparkling water. "If you want something stronger, I'm afraid you'll have to ask Luigi."

"No, water's fine." Annie answered as she poured herself a glass. "So did you get anywhere with your investigation today?"

"Nothing whatsoever. It's so frustrating, because we've practically no leads. No family to interview, as they all live in Saudi-Arabia. And I think both the husband and her friend have told us everything they know. I'm afraid we're reaching a dead end with the investigation." Alex sighed.

"I can imagine that must be frustrating." Annie nodded in agreement. "So where's the Guv?" She asked, changing the subject.

"He's picking up my daughter Molly, as we're going to have dinner here tonight," Alex said, glancing at her watch. "They should've been here by now."

"Picking up your daughter? Does that mean you and the Guv are…together?" Annie looked surprised.

The look on Annie's face caused Alex to burst out laughing. "Yes we are as a matter of fact. You didn't know?"

"No I didn't, I swear. Nobody's told me anything; and like I said, I haven't seen the Guv or any of the others for nearly three years."

"How come you didn't keep in touch?" Alex asked. "To be honest, it surprised me that Gene didn't have any contact with you. You are after all his best friend's wife."

"I don't know, I suppose everyday life just got in the way." Annie shrugged. "But I have to say I'm surprised to find the Guv in a serious relationship. Didn't think he'd want anything like that again after his wife left him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the relationship the two of you have, but just in general. I didn't expect it."

Alex laughed. "That's perfectly fine, I understand. Before we got together, I didn't think he'd be a relationship kind of person either. And neither was I, to be honest. But from the moment we finally gave in to our feelings, it just felt right. I can't really explain it."

"I understand," Annie said. "That's the kind of connection I had with Sam. It was there from day one, but it took a long time before either of us acted upon it. It's something you can't explain, it just is."

"It's a very rare thing, I suppose." Alex said. "I never thought I could feel this way. Especially with a man like Gene. Normally, men like him aren't even my type." She grinned.

"He's changed a lot since I last saw him." Annie said. "His divorce and Sam's death both affected him badly, but he's changed beyond recognition now, in a good way. And I'm guessing a big part is down to you, Alex. Though I'm still finding it hard to imagine Gene Hunt with a baby."

This last remark caused both women to laugh out loud.

"Believe me, a year ago I would've found it unthinkable," Alex laughed. "But he really has changed, like you said, and I've faith in him. I'm sure he'll be a great dad; perhaps a bit strange at times, but great nonetheless."

* * *

That night, as they were lying in bed, Alex found it hard to fall asleep. She just couldn't stop thinking about the events of that day.

"Gene, tell me about what happened after Sam died," she said.

"Why, what is there to tell?" Gene asked as crept up behind her to spoon her, placing his right hand over her belly.

"I'd imagine there's a lot to tell. It was undoubtedly an important moment in your life, and you went through a lot of changes. But you never talk about any of it."

"S'difficult to talk about Bolls, I'd rather not think about it too much," he mumbled.

Alex placed her hand over his, gently rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb.

"Perhaps it'll get easier if you talk about it. Don't think of me as a psychologist, but just as Alex, your partner, your lover. Please let me in Gene, let me be part of that period of your life."

Gene sighed as he rested his chin on her shoulder, half-burying his face in her hair.

"S'gonna be a long story Bolls, and it won't be easy. I've done some things I'm not particularly proud of."

"It's alright," she reassured him. "You don't have to tell me every tiny detail. Just tell me as much as you feel comfortable with."

Gene took another deep breath, and started talking.

"_By the time I arrived at the river, they were already busy pullin' the Cortina out of the water. Took me ages to get there, since we were in the middle of an investigation, and on top of that Sam had taken me bloody car. They didn't find his body, must've drifted away they said. So we started searching. Annie was in a right state, didn't know what to do with 'erself. I tried to comfort her, but you know me, I'm not very good at that sort of thing. So in the end I sent her home, she was no use to the investigation, plus we had that whole 'conflict of interest' thing to worry about. New Super was very big on following the rules an' all. _

_We had to stop searching after a week, t'was no use." _

Gene swallowed hard, before continuing._ "Sam was officially declared dead. I sorta helped out with planning the memorial service, along with Annie's parents. She was in no fit state to do anythin'. The service was nice, was all a bit soft if yer ask me, but I'm sure that's how 'e would've wanted it. T'was busy too, felt like the whole of GMP was there. _

_Annie was signed off on compassionate leave, but she didn't want to 'ear of it. Went back to work straightaway, claiming she'd go mad sitting at home all day. But she wasn't herself; distracted, frail and emotional. Never seen anyone looking that pale, and that's saying something, coming from someone who's seen a lot of stiffs in his time. _

_Few weeks went by, everyone was pretty much in a crappy mood round the clock. Even Raymondo looked genuinely upset, even though he and Sam never got on that well. Then everything just went tits up. The missus left me about 3 weeks after Sam's death. She'd been meaning to do this for a while, but held it off fer a bit because of the memorial service an' all. Bu' she said she couldn't pretend any longer, so she packed her bags and left."_

Gene paused, needed to digest everything he'd just said.

"That must've been awful Gene," Alex sounded genuinely sympathetic.

"_T'was me own fault really, I was a lousy husband. To be honest, I'm surprised she didn't leave me sooner. From that moment on, my life was pretty much one big shithole. Didn't enjoy doing me job anymore. Sam might've been a big pain in the arse, but I didn't know how to work properly anymore without him. Ray and Chris aren't bad at what they do, but let's be honest, they're a couple of divs, and they need someone to watch over them. Normally Cartwright would be of use, but at that time, she was just as useless as the rest of them. So I decided that it was best for me to transfer. Wasn't an easy decision, mind. Never thought I could leave Manchester behind. It's my city; grew up there and lived there all my life, knew every street corner and back alley, and all the scum and lowlife it housed."_

"So what made you choose London?" Alex asked, urging him to continue.

"Tis a big and impersonal city Bolls. Easy for a newcomer to make a fresh start, since you don't stand out, and nobody notices you."

Alex nodded in agreement. That was definitely true.

"So what happened then?" Alex encouraged him to continue.

"_I made the request to be transferred. They said it would take about 3 months, so I would have to continue working in me old job for the time being. Didn't mind it that much since I knew it would be coming to an end soon anyway. They were right, cause I came down 'ere about 4 months after Sam's death. I told everyone I was transferring straightaway, best to get it over and done with an' all. Ray said he'd transfer with me almost immediately, and Chris followed suit not long after that. Never asked them to come with me, t'was their own initiative. The most initiative they've probably ever showed."_

That last remark made Alex chuckle. "So how did the rest of your team take it?"

"They weren't happy, but accepted it pretty quickly. Annie was upset though. Never thought she were that fond of me to be honest."

"Did she say anything?" Alex asked.

"Didn't say a word to me, but I could see she was upset. Felt I needed to talk to her, though I'm not good at it. Talking about your problems if for women, poofters and Sam. But since he weren't there, I had to do it myself."

* * *

**3 years earlier**

"Cartwright, my office!" Gene called through the open door.

Annie sighed, as she got up and made her way to the Guv's office. She walked slowly as she tried to keep herself together. She was whiter than a sheet of paper, and the dark circles under her eyes showed she hadn't slept well for weeks. All eyes were on her, as nobody understood why she had been called into their DCI's office. It wasn't as if she had done anything wrong, quite the opposite. Over the past few weeks, she had buried herself in her work, and had hardly uttered a word to anyone.

She walked into his office and closed the door behind her. "You wanted to see me Guv."

She didn't even pose it as a question, just stated it as a fact.

Gene, who had been sitting behind his desk with his feet up, swung his long legs off of his desk where he'd previously rested them, and looked up at her. For a moment, he said nothing, and just took in the sight of the woman before him. She didn't look remotely like the Annie Cartwright he'd got to know over the years. The Annie he knew, was a cheerful young woman, whose happiness and positive outlook on life seemed to radiate off of her, and swept a breath of fresh air through CID. The woman he was looking at right now, didn't look like she had a wave of optimism or cheerfulness left in her. The spark in her eyes had gone, and the bright blue colour had been replaced by a dull grey one.

"Yeah, er..sit down Annie." He said nervously, as he motioned at the chair at the other side of his desk.

Annie sat down, but didn't look at him. Instead, she just stared at her hands, waiting for Gene to speak.

"So how are you holding up?" He finally asked.

"Alright, I suppose," she answered. "Just getting on with my job. Got a lot of files organised over the past couple of weeks. Was long overdue so I'm glad that's all sorted now."

Gene sighed. This was going to be even more difficult than he had imagined. Having a conversation with a bird who poured her heart out was relatively easy, just nodding in agreement and a few sympathetic looks would usually do it, but this was something else. It was obvious that Annie wasn't herself, but she didn't seem eager to talk about it. She hadn't even looked at him since she'd stepped into his office.

"I didn't ask you in 'ere to talk about work. If I want the files organised, I can get some plonk in to do that." He said. "I want to know how you're feeling."

Annie just shrugged her shoulders, and continued to stare at her hands.

"Annie, look at me."

She finally looked up, and as their eyes met, he could see that tears were already starting to gather in hers.

"Annie, love, don't cry.." he started, but it was too late. The floodgates had opened, and the young woman was slowly falling apart before his eyes.

Gene did something he hardly ever did; he walked over to her and put his arms around her, as she silently cried into his chest, her frail body heaving frantically from the sobs.

"It's alright love. I know you're hurting, but it'll get better with time. I miss 'im too."

It was the first time he had admitted it, that he really missed Sam. He'd not so much as thought it, let alone said it out loud. But it was true, he missed him terribly. He felt a few tears burning in the back of his eyes, but forcefully blinked them away. Hugging a woman was one thing, but he couldn't possibly cry. He hadn't gone completely soft.

"It's not just that," Annie said, as she pulled away from Gene to face him, the occasional sob escaping her. "I miss him more than I've ever missed anyone else, it hurts my body and soul, and I feel like that pain's never going to go away again. But there's more."

She paused for a moment, stuck in an inner conflict over whether she should confide in her DCI or not.

"What's the matter love?" Gene asked.

Annie took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm…p-pregnant."

"Flaming Nora," Gene mumbled. "S'bad enough of Tyler to abandon you, but like this!"

"He didn't abandon me Guv, he died. It's not his fault," she sniffed.

Gene rummaged in his pocket, in search of a handkerchief. Finally he found one, and handed it to Annie, who gratefully took it and blew her nose, after having dabbed her tears away with it first.

"Please don't tell anyone what I've just told you," she said.

"Why don't you want anyone to know? At some point, they're gonna find out anyway."

She looked at him with pleading eyes. "Just don't, please. I don't want their pity."

"Don't worry, I won't say a word." He reassured her.

He stood up and patter her on the shoulder. "Now you stay 'ere, and I'll get you a cuppa. You look a complete mess Cartwright, can't let you go out of the office looking like this, or the rest will think I've been bullying ya."

Annie managed a faint smile as she looked up at him through watery eyes. "Thanks Guv."

* * *

"So I respected her wish, and didn't tell anyone." Gene concluded the story.

"My god, that's awful. I can't imagine what she must've gone through." Alex said. "But there's one thing I don't understand; when I asked Jackie about Sam and Annie, she said they didn't have any children."

"Like I said, she didn't tell many people, and I kept me promise, so not many people knew." Gene answered. "The last time Jackie saw Annie was at the memorial service. She wrote Sam's obituary for the paper, but that was it. Annie moved to the other side of town, away from the people she knew, and to live closer to her parents. She needed a fresh start too. I asked her if she wanted to come down to London as well, you know, to keep the team intact, but she refused. Didn't want to leave Manchester."

"I can understand that. Starting over in a new city in her situation would've been extremely difficult." Alex said.

"Luckily she had her parents to turn to for support. Plus she got a widow's pension so she would be alright, financially at least."

"So what happened afterwards?" Alex asked.

"I only saw her twice after I moved away." He said. "Once when the little 'un was born, and at his christening. She even made me 'is godfather. Can't think why though, I was bloody useless." These last words were mumbled in an almost embarrassed tone.

Alex shifted in the bed and turned around so she was facing him. "What's done is done, and you can't change the past." She said as she lightly brushed her hand across his cheek. "The fact that you're acknowledging your own mistakes is really quite something. It's more than most people manage to do."

"Yeah, well it doesn't really change anything, does it Bolls?"

"It might. You could talk to her, and apologize. She'll appreciate that, and I'm sure she won't hold any of it against you."

"You think Bolls? She's my best friend's wife, and I buggered off when she went through what was probably the lowest point in her life."

"She knows you were hurting too Gene, and that you didn't do it on purpose. And let's face it, she probably wouldn't have visited you if she'd still been angry with you. Just talk to her. I know it's hard, but I'm sure you'll both feel better afterwards."

"Alright, I promise I'll talk to her Bolls."

"Good."

"I think we'd better try to get some sleep now. Busy day tomorrow."

Alex yawned. "Good idea, I'm exhausted."

"Night Gene," she said as she snuggled closer to him, and was asleep within minutes.

"Night Bolls," he said as he kissed the top of her head.

Gene, however, didn't sleep. He couldn't. He kept mulling over everything he'd just said to Alex. Never before in his life had he ever been so candid about his thoughts and feelings. Whenever he was with Alex, she managed to conjure sides of him, which he didn't even know existed. It was scary and comforting at the same time. Now completely awake, he stared at the ceiling, while listening to the steady breathing of the sleeping form lying next to him. It was going to be a long night..

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

_I feel I can't say it often enough, but thanks again to everyone who keeps reading and reviewing._

* * *

_Chapter 6_

Viv walked into CID around noon. "Guv, man and woman at the front desk. They want to talk to you about the murdered girl."

"This better be good," he bellowed as he walked out of his office.

He had been in a bad mood all morning; the investigation was going nowhere, and he was dreading the inevitable talk he was going to have to have with Annie. Normally, he'd try to wiggle his way out of that sort of thing, but he had promised Alex, and part of him felt he owed at least that much to Annie.

"Shaz, where's Drake?" he asked the WPC, who was sitting behind her desk.

"Don't know Guv, went to the ladies' I think."

"Well go and get her then, quickly. I'm not in a friendly mood today, so I'll need her with me to make sure I don't beat anyone to a pulp."

Shaz quickly scurried off to find her, and returned not two minutes later with a very confused looking Alex.

"What's wrong Gene?" she asked.

"Viv 'ere tells me people want to talk to us about the murdered girl."

"Well that's good then, perhaps we'll finally be able to make a breakthrough." She said, sounding hopeful.

When they reached the front desk, Viv pointed them to a corner where the people in question were waiting for them. A man in his mid-20s, casually dressed in western attire, with black floppy hair and hazel eyes. Next to him, an obvious much smaller person, but formless, covered head to toe in a black burqa.

"Bloody hell" Gene muttered, as he took in the sight before him.

"Just don't say a word," Alex hissed at him. "They might have important information to share with us."

"You wanted to speak to us?" Gene said as they approached them and stuck out his hand. "I'm DCI Hunt, this is my colleague DI Drake."

"I'm Aziz, Rana's brother." The man replied as he shook Gene's hand. "And this is my sister, Layla."

"Nice to meet you both," a voice from under the burqa said.

"My condolences to you both. I am so sorry for your loss." Alex said, trying her best to address both of them equally. Even after years of all sorts of special trainings, she still found it hard to address someone properly without being able to make eye-contact.

"Thank you." Aziz replied. "I shall get straight to the point. The reason why we're here, is because we would like to take Rana's body home as soon as possible, so she can have a proper funeral."

Gene cleared his throat briefly. "I'm afraid we can't do that yet sir. We're in the middle of a murder investigation, which means we can't just release the body."

Aziz tried his best not to lose his temper, as this would get him nowhere. "But this, what you're doing, is against our beliefs. You can't just cut her open, her body has to remain intact. And in our culture, the dead have to be buried within 24 hours. Is it so hard to respect other people's traditions?"

Alex decided it was best to interrupt, before Gene would offend the man in any way, and all hell would break loose.

"Sir, we are aware of your beliefs and traditions, and we will try to respect them in any way we can, but in this case I'm afraid you will have to be patient, however difficult that may be. You want us to catch your sister's murderer, don't you?"

"Yes" Aziz nodded.

"Then please let us conduct our investigation our way. I promise you we will do everything we can to catch whoever did this."

"Alright then," Aziz answered, however he didn't sound convinced.

"Would you mind if we asked you both a few questions, seeing that you're here now?" Gene asked.

The man looked at him distrustful. "Why would you want to ask me or my sister anything? We have nothing to do with any of this."

"Don't worry, you're not suspects" Alex quickly added. "But I'm a psychologist, and I try to construct psychological profiles as part of the investigations, so anything you both could tell me about your sister would be most helpful."

"That won't be a problem, you can ask us about our sister, as long as it's done with respect."

"Good" Alex said. "Now if you would like to follow DCI Hunt to an interview room, then your sister can come with me."

At this, Aziz protested heavily. "Separately? You didn't say anything about that! If he.." pointing at Gene, "is going to be interviewing her, I will have to be there too. She can't be in a room with a strange man."

"Of course DCI Hunt will not be present during the interview with your sister. I will get another female colleague to do the interview with me," she assured him.

* * *

After they had installed both Aziz and Layla in separate interview rooms with a cup of tea, Gene and Alex quickly got together in his office to discuss their interviewing tactics.

"Bloody hell Bolls, these people are driving me bonkers with their stupid little rules and 'traditions'," Gene said, waggling his fingers in a very Alex-like fashion at the last word. He sat down in his chair and poured himself a generous measure of whiskey.

"I know Gene," Alex sighed. "But don't let that discourage you. These two might enable us to get to know a lot more about who Rana was, so please don't let personal judgement get in the way. I know it's hard, it's not easy for me either."

"That woman was completely covered Bolls. Had no idea who I was talking to."

"I think it's unnatural too Gene. But there's nothing we can do about it, can we? We just have to get on with our investigation and not get distracted by trivial things like this. Which brings me to my next point."

"And what would that be Bolls?"

"Take Chris with you to interview Aziz," she said determinedly.

Gene nearly choked on his drink. "Why? I always take Ray to interview people if you're not there. Chris will be no bloody use to me."

"That's exactly my point. How is Chris ever going to learn if you never let him? Besides, you and Ray will probably beat the man to a pulp, and since he's not even a suspect, I don't think that will go down very well."

"If you're sure Bolls.." Gene said, looking pretty displeased. "And who will be comin' with you then?"

"Shaz" she answered resolutely. "I think her shot at proper policing is long overdue, plus I think she'll be really good at it."

"She's got some decent brains in that head of hers," Gene agreed.

"Right, that's settled then. Let's crack on," Alex said as she opened the door of Gene's office.

"Don't get too sure of yerself Bolly. You sure you're not after me job?" Gene said, half-teasingly.

"I wouldn't dream of it!" She replied in an overdramatic tone.

* * *

When Alex and Shaz entered the interview room, they were surprised to see that Layla had taken her burqa off. She was beautiful, and the spitting image of her sister, Alex noticed.

"I took it off, since there are no men in the room," she explained, as she saw the surprised look on their faces.

"Yes I understand," Alex said. "To be honest, that's not why I looked so surprised. You look exactly like your sister."

"I know," Layla nodded in agreement. "We could always pass for twins, apart from the fact that I'm a year older than her."

Alex and Shaz sat down opposite Layla, and Shaz put pen and paper down in front of her, to take notes.

"Shall we begin?" Alex asked. "What can you tell me about your sister?"

Layla thought for a moment, before she started speaking."There isn't much to tell really. We don't lead very exciting lives. She was a happy girl most of the time. She liked fashion and shopping, and reading magazines. She had an obsession with all things foreign, which annoyed me a bit, but apart from that, nothing."

"What annoyed you about her interest in foreign things?"

"Well, no offence, but you western people are all unbelievers. I can't believe how she could possibly be interested in anything this world had to offer, and how she secretly preferred it over her own. She should've just been content with what she had." Layla answered coldly.

"I see," Alex said. "So how did you feel about your sister going to Europe on her honeymoon?"

"Well, it's pretty obvious how I felt about that, isn't it?" Layla replied. "She could've just stayed closer to home."

Alex glanced over to Shaz, who was busy writing everything down, before continuing. "Is there anything else we should know about your sister? Anything springs to mind that could help with our investigation?"

Layla shook her head. "No, nothing at all. Like I said, there isn't much to say about her."

Alex felt the interview was going nowhere, so she decided to end it. Even if the girl knew anything else, she didn't intend on telling her. "Okay, I guess that's all for now. Thank you for your time Layla."

Alex and Shaz stood up and waited for Layla to put her burqa back on, before escorting her back to the front desk. At around the same time, Gene and Chris emerged from another interview room, with a very shaken looking Aziz. After thanking them again for their time and cooperation, the foursome returned to CID to discuss the interviews.

* * *

"Aziz looked in a right state Gene, what did you do to him?" Alex asked, as the four of them sat down in his office.

"Nothing Bolls, I swear. Chris can vouch for that." Gene said defensively.

Chris nodded." T'is true ma'am. Guv didn't touch him."

"Then what happened?"

"We just asked him about his sister, what kind of girl she was. And 'e just broke down completely." Gene said.

Alex was sure she heard him mutter '_bloody poof'_ under his breath, but decided to ignore it.

"He seemed genuinely upset at the death of his sister," Gene continued. "Said him and his sister were sent by their family to collect the body. And he thinks the husband is a twat."

Alex raised her eyebrow at this last comment, which made Gene rephrase his comment.

"Okay okay Bolls, he didn't say it like that. But it's safe to say he doesn't like him."

"Well it's not the outcome I would've expected to be honest," Alex said. "You're saying the brother was completely devastated by the death of his sister?"

Both Gene and Chris nodded in agreement.

"Well, the girl didn't seem upset at all. She was very cold and distant, and it seemed as though she couldn't care less, right Shaz?"

"Oh yes, definitely ma'am. The whole interview felt very strange to me. She just sat there, and talked very nonchalantly about her dead sister as if she was talking about a pair of shoes that she'd lost." Shaz answered.

"So, what are you two saying?" Gene asked as he leaned back in his chair. "Do you think she's involved in her sister's death?"

Alex shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest, I've no idea. She was behaving oddly, but that's nowhere near enough reason to suspect someone. Plus, they both said they only just arrived in England to claim their sister's body, so she can't have been directly involved."

"Great, so apart from the fact that we now know that her family's disturbed, we're still no further," Gene said as he stood up. "I need a bloody drink."

He marched past them out of his office. "Right, beer O'clock starts early today, because I need a drink, and you're all buying me one. Now, mush."

He felt a tap on his shoulder, it was Alex.

"Gene, aren't you forgetting something? I thought you were going to talk to Annie?"

_Bugger. He'd completely forgotten about that._ "Oh yeah, s'right Bolls. I'll better do that first, before I get a few pints down me neck."

"Right boys and girls, you go ahead to Luigi's and I'll be there soon. Don't forget to bring your piggybanks."

* * *

Talking to Annie hadn't been as bad as Gene had imagined it to be. In fact, he was glad that Alex had convinced him to do so, even though he'd probably never admit it to her face. The conversation had started off rather awkwardly, as Gene didn't know where to begin or what to say and Annie had no idea what he wanted to talk to her about. So eventually he had pulled himself together, and had started talking about how guilty he had felt about just taking off like that and not keeping in touch during a time when she obviously could've used all the support she could get. He also told her how much he missed Sam, something he hadn't even be able to admit to himself until very recently.

Annie had then reassured him that she didn't blame him for the way he had acted, and that she understood why he had behaved the way he did. Even though he'd never verbally expressed it, she too could see that Sam's death had affected him immensely, and that he'd had to deal with it in his own way. She also told him she very much appreciated the fact that he had come to her to talk things through, and she wholeheartedly accepted his apology; adding that she hoped that contact would be maintained from now on, and that maybe he could even try and play a more active role in his godson's life. He promised her he would do that, and on that note the conversation was ended, and Gene headed to Luigi's for that much needed drink.

When he entered Luigi's, he was surprised to find Alex there. He took a moment to look at her, before going over to her. She hadn't noticed him coming in yet, and she was sat at a table in front of the mural, happily chatting away with Chris and Shaz and clearly enjoying herself. It used to be such a normal thing, heading for Luigi's after work, sharing more than a few drinks and talking about everything and nothing. A complete waste of time when you thought about it, but many of Gene's happiest moments since he had come down to London had been right here, in the little Italian trattoria, in the company of Alex.

Even though his current situation with Alex was better than he could ever have dreamed of, he still missed these drunken banter filled evenings. Most nights, Alex didn't come to Luigi's with them anymore, obviously because of Molly, but also because she was usually too tired and just wanted to go home after a long day's work. Gene understood that completely, and usually just stopped off for a quick pint himself before heading home. Sometimes he skipped the drink completely, and headed straight home, preferring to spend a quiet night at home with Alex and Molly rather than seeing Chris and Ray lighting their farts and hearing them sing horribly out of tune. _He really was going soft._

* * *

The next day finally brought some much needed progress to the case.

An anxious looking Shaz practically ran towards Alex as she returned to CID after her lunch break.

"Ma'am, there's something you need to know." She said as she tried to catch her breath.

"Easy Shaz, slow down, take a deep breath." Alex replied as she took off her coat. "What's wrong?"

"Well, remember when we went to interview the sister. She was acting all cold and indifferent and it gave me a very strange feeling that I haven't been able to shake off every since. So I decided to investigate some things, you know, background checks and things like that. I hope you don't mind."

Alex motioned her to continue. "Of course I don't mind Shaz, what did you find out?"

"Before the interview, the brother said they'd only just arrived in London to collect their sister's body, right? Well, I checked, and as it turns out, they were on a flight coming in to London, 3 days before Rana's death. They even checked into the same hotel."

"Oh my god, so perhaps they are involved in all of this after all. That's some brilliant work you've done there Shaz. Thanks to you we might finally get somewhere with this investigation." Alex said as she placed her hand on the young woman's arm.

"Thanks ma'am."

"Have you told the Guv yet?" Alex asked.

"No not yet." Shaz replied.

The two women quickly made their way over to Gene's office to tell him about Shaz's latest discoveries. On the one hand it cheered him up, as they were finally making progress with their investigation. On the other hand, it pissed him off immensely, knowing that those two had been lying all along.

"Well done Granger." He said, causing Shaz's cheeks to turn a bright shade of pink.

"Thanks Guv."

"Right, let's pull 'em in for questioning then." He said as he went to fetch his coat, Alex following closely behind him.

Shaz stayed behind in Gene's office, unsure of what to do next.

"Granger!" Gene's voice bellowed from outside the office. "Get yer coat, you're coming with us."

He didn't have to tell her twice. She practically ran after her two superior officers, glad to finally be fully accepted as a part of the team.

* * *

"Like I told you 3 times before, I don't know what you're talking about."

Gene was really starting to lose it now, as he slammed his fist down on the table in anger. "You're bloody pissing me about, and have been doing so since you first set foot in this station!"

Aziz remained seemingly calm, but Alex could tell he did feel intimidated by Gene's actions.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you." He said. "Perhaps the airline got the date wrong, we really did arrive when I said we did."

This was the final straw for Gene. He jumped up and grabbed the man by his lapels, half dragging him across the table of the interview room. Alex shrieked and jumped up, away from the two men.

"Bolls, go and get Ray for me will ya."

"And then what?" she asked. "Beat him to a pulp? Allow Ray to kick 7 shades of shit out of him? I don't think so!"

"If you don't get him then I will. I'll make this scumbag over 'ere talk, one way or the other."

Aziz, who by now was trembling like a frightened little puppy, overheard their conversation and decided he'd rather not be beaten to a pulp by DCI Hunt and this Ray they were talking about.

"Alright, alright. I'll tell you. Just please let go of me!"

Gene let go of him abruptly, which caused Aziz to stumble backwards and nearly miss his chair.

"Right, I hope you're telling the truth this time, otherwise you're gonna wish you'd let me kick the shit out of you right now."

"Okay, so we did get here 3 days earlier than I told you. But not for the reason you think. We were sent here by our family to keep an eye on Rana. You see, right after she left, my sister Layla found Rana's diary, which she kept hidden somewhere in her room. I suppose you know that Rana had planned to run away and stay in London?"

Alex looked up in shock at that last question. _How could he possibly know that?_ She thought to herself. "Yes, we did know that indeed. I'm just surprised to hear that you knew about it."

"It was all in her diary," Aziz explained. "So my sister and I flew over to London and checked into the same hotel, so we could stop her as soon as she tried to run. The first 2 days weren't a problem, Rana and Nour didn't leave each other's side for a moment, so we just had to make sure that she didn't see us. But on the third day, the day she disappeared, we lost track of her. We knew they'd had breakfast together, and afterwards they went back to their hotel room, still together. I went out to get a newspaper, and when I came back Layla told me Rana had left by herself. She had tried to follow her, but Rana had apparently gotten into a cab the moment she was outside, so Layla had lost her. That's the last time we saw her, and that's the truth, I swear!"

"Did you know she was pregnant?" Alex asked out of the blue.

This question caught Aziz by surprise, but he quickly composed himself. "Yes," he said in a low voice, sounding ashamed. "We read that in her diary as well. That's partially why it was so important to get her back home soon. We couldn't allow her to put our family to shame like that, something needed to be done about it."

"Any idea who might've been the father?"Alex asked.

"No idea," he said determinedly. "She never met strange men. It's not allowed in our country, and besides, she wouldn't have had the chance to do so, or everyone would've known about it. She's got her own driver, and I'm sure he would've refused to let her meet with strange men."

"Then how would you explain her condition then? I'm sure people in 1983 don't believe in immaculate conception anymore." Alex stated.

"As I told you before, I don't know!" He sounded frustrated and desperate. "Can I go now?"

Gene stood up. "No so fast. Me and my colleague are gonna discuss this outside. And don't you dare move in our absence, or I'll break your scrummy little neck."

"DI Drake, a word."

"Wow, that puts the story into a whole new perspective," Alex said as she closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

"So what d'you think Bollykeks? Is he telling the truth?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, I think he is."

"Unfortunately, I think so too." Gene sighed. "Still think he's a tosser though."

That comment made Alex laugh, it was so typically Gene. But she was glad he agreed with her, and that the violence hadn't gotten out of hand.

"Still, it doesn't bring us any closer to finding that girl's killer."

"You know what I've been thinking?" Gene said. "What if we've been reading too much into all of this? Maybe she did just wander off on her own, and ended up being smacked over the head by a lowlife scummy junkie."

Alex shook her head. "No. Without all the extra background information on her life, I might've been able to believe that to be a credible story. But with all that we know now, it seems impossible to me. Someone close to her is involved in this; someone who knew her secrets."

"Gut feeling?" Gene asked.

"Yes, that too."

Gene looked at the door of the interview room. "So what are we gonna do about him?"

"Release him, it's all we can do. We've nothing to charge him with, so.."

"I guess you're right," Gene said. "However, I'm gonna have him kept under close surveillance."

"That sounds like a wise idea." Alex nodded in agreement.

"Right, let's tell him the good news then shall we. That he's free to go."

"Wait." Alex stopped him as he was about to re-enter the interview room. "We should get a DNA sample from him as well."

Gene looked mildly surprised. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," she replied. "But something's telling me we should."

"Gut feeling again?" Gene asked.

"Yeah, I suppose so." Alex answered.

"Okay Bolls, I don't see why not. It certainly can't do any harm."

They turned around and went back into the interview room to tell Aziz that he was free to go, and asked him if he was prepared to have a DNA test. He was hesitant at first, but when Alex told him this would help to rule him out as a suspect for this case, he immediately agreed.

He was then released and Gene and Alex returned to CID, still none the wiser.

**TBC**

**Please review :)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm so sorry about the massive delay, but I'm afraid real-life got in the way over the past few weeks. My dad's been in hospital and everything just got a bit messy. Hopefully this chapter will make up for the long wait!_

* * *

_Chapter 7_

Alex opened the front door and stepped inside the house. The hallway was completely dark, which was slightly odd. Gene had gone home before her, and Molly should've come back from school hours ago. She was on her guard as she made her way through the hallway, half suspecting some criminal to come jumping out of the darkness any second.

"Gene? Molly?" She hesitantly called out.

"I'm in 'ere", Gene replied.

Alex breathed out a sigh of relief, and followed the sound of his voice into the living room. The lights were dimmed, and the dining room table was set for two. He had even lit a few candles.

For a moment, Alex didn't know what to say. When she finally spoke it came out in a whisper. "Gene, what's all this? And where's Molly?"

"She's staying with Chris and Shaz tonight." He said. "Thought it would be nice to spend the evening together, just the two of us you know."

Gene had his hands stuffed deeply into his pockets, and was looking at his feet instead of looking at Alex. He seemed nervous, almost shy, which was very unlike him. Alex walked over to him and softly pushed a stray lock of hair, that had flopped forward, out of his face. "That's very sweet of you. But you didn't have to do all this", she said, pointing at the candles and the table. "I would've been just as happy to spend a quiet evening on the sofa with you."

"I know, but I wanted to. We hardly spend any time together these days."

This caused Alex to laugh. "What do you mean, hardly any time together? We work together and we live together, we are in each other's company nearly 24 hours a day. Not that I mind at all," she quickly added.

"Yeah but there's always other people around. And once this little un arrives, we won't have any alone time anymore."

"Of course we will have alone time. Perhaps not so much at first, but we'll make time for each other, I promise." She assured him, stepping closer as he pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Right, I hope you're hungry," Gene said after a while, feeling the need to lighten the mood.

"Oh yes, I could eat a horse."

"Well I'm afraid that's not on the menu tonight, but I hope cow will do?" He said, giving her a quick wink.

"Do you need a hand with anything?" Alex asked as she already made for the kitchen.

"No no you stay here," he said as he guided her back to the dining room table. "You just sit here and be waited on. I'm the chef tonight."

Alex looked up in surprise as she sat down at the table. "You cooked?"

"Course I did Bolly. The Gene Genie isn't just known for his good looks and legendary prowess as a lover you know. I'm actually quite a decent cook."

And Gene was right. He was more than a decent cook, he was actually a really good cook. The food was lovely; nothing pretentious, just simple, good food. After polishing off the last of the sticky toffee pudding Gene had made, Alex felt as if she was ready to burst.

Throughout the meal, Gene had watched in amusement as Alex had slowly made her way through everything he had cooked, leaving nothing but clean plates behind.

"Good food love?"

"Hmm delicious, you should cook more often. I could definitely get used to this. " She teased.

"Well don't get your hopes up just yet Bolls. Bloody hard work this is."

"And it's probably for the best," she sighed. "At this rate I'd be 20 stone in no time."

Alex retired to the sofa, still so full from dinner that she felt she really couldn't move any further, while Gene went into the kitchen to make coffee. When he re-entered the living room he saw that she'd already made herself comfortable. She was sitting on the sofa and had propped her feet up on the coffee table in front of her. She was seemingly relaxed and staring into nothingness, but Gene knew her better than that. She was in one of her silent, pensive moods again.

"What are you thinking Bolls?" He asked as he put the coffee down on the table.

She'd been completely emerged in her own thoughts, and the sound of his voice made her jump ever so slightly.

"Oh, nothing much. Just the case, that's all." She said.

"You think too much Bolls. If that brain of yours was paid overtime, you'd be a rich woman."

He handed her a cup of coffee as he sat down next to her. "Anyway, no talk of work tonight. There's enough shit going on in the world and we should try to keep it out when we're at home."

"I agree, let's not talk about work," Alex replied, her free hand brushing softly across his cheek.

They spend some time just chatting about a variety of subjects as they sipped their coffees. Just light hearted chatter, nothing too serious, but both found it difficult not to mention anything involving work in general or any of their current cases at all.

Alex noticed something about Gene. Even though he was talking to her, he seemed pre-occupied, distracted in a way. As time went by, she saw him grow more restless, and she wondered what could possibly be bothering him. After all, the evening had got off to a good start with dinner, but now the atmosphere was different.

"You're studying me again Bolly." He said all of a sudden. "I'm not one of your psychiatric patients, remember?"

"Something's bothering you," she said, ignoring his comment, not even correcting his use of the word psychiatry.

"What makes you think that? I'm fine."

She gave him a serious look. "You're nervous Gene, I can see it."

"M'not nervous Bolls. Honestly, I'm fine."

She opened her mouth, ready to contradict him again, when Gene cut her off. He felt this was the beginning of what could turn into a massive argument, and he wanted to prevent that from happening. This evening the atmosphere should stay positive, otherwise he'd never be able to go through with what he was planning to do.

"Right, I was gonna wait till later, but I might as well do it now."

He fumbled in the left pocket of his trousers, desperately trying to retrieve something. Alex just gazed at him, intrigued and slightly amused, as the look on his face became more worried. He sighed in relief as he finally felt his hand grip what he was looking for. _C'mon you coward, it's now or never_, he thought to himself.

He coughed nervously, not knowing whether to look her straight in the eye or elsewhere.

"Alex, will you marry me?" He blurted out.

_Shit. That's not the way it was supposed to go._ He had some stuff prepared, things he wanted to say to her, that he desperately wanted to know. But as with most things in his life, it hadn't exactly gone to plan. _Great work you idiot, _he thought to himself.

With all these thoughts spinning through his head, he nearly forgot to retrieve the box from his pocket. He held it up and handed it over to Alex, who was just staring at him, completely stunned.

She slowly opened the box and her eyes lit up as she saw what was inside. It was a beautiful ring, a silver band with a red ruby sitting on top of it, and nothing else. Just very simple, nothing over the top.

"It's beautiful," she said, her voice reduced to no more than a whisper.

"Good. I was hoping you'd like it." He said, still sounding a little nervous.

Alex took out the ring and slid it on her finger, it fitted perfectly. "I love it."

"So, is that a yes then?"

Alex looked up at him, a big smile now plastered on her face. "Yes, of course it is. I'd love to marry you."

"Good, cause that ring cost me a small fortune." He grinned as he pulled her in for a kiss.

* * *

For the rest of the week nothing much seemed to be happening. The team chased up a few leads regarding Rana's death, but none of those gave them any more information. In the meantime a few other cases such as robberies and a car theft seemed to take up most of their time. It was all pretty dull and the team started to get sick of the straightforward investigations and paperwork without any real action and excitement.

Alex and Gene tried their best to keep at least some parts of their personal lives private, so they didn't make a big announcement of their engagement. But the sparkling ring on Alex's left hand, which she showed off proudly, spoke for itself.

The following Monday finally brought about a change. Gene and Alex were both in his office sharing a mid-morning coffee when Shaz burst in without knocking, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

"Guv, Ma'am, got a new DNA report here. They said it was urgent."

Both of them immediately jumped to their feet at this announcement, and Alex extended her arm to get the report from the overexcited WPC.

"Thanks Shaz," Alex smiled.

She quickly opened the file and started scanning the first page, her eyes getting wider and her shocked expression becoming more noticeable as she read on.

"What's up Bolls? Your eyes are nearly popping out of their sockets." Gene said, obviously getting curious as to the contents of the report as well.

"I think it's time we bring Aziz back in for questioning," she answered as she handed Gene the papers.

"Bloody hell," he muttered after a quick glance at the information he'd just been given."

* * *

An hour later Gene and Alex made their way over to the interview room, where Ray and Chris had left Aziz after picking him up from his hotel. Once again, Alex stopped Gene briefly before they entered the room.

"Please promise me you'll at least try to stay calm this time. I know the info we've just been given was shocking to say the least, but we can't get any concrete information if you start slapping him around the room."

"Yeah I'll try, but I can't make any promises Bolls. This is a sick bastard who deserves a good slapping." Gene answered gruffly.

Alex didn't answer back, and just sighed as they stepped across the threshold into the interview room. Aziz was already seated behind the table, seemingly calm and composed. But Alex could see past his outward appearance and noticed the underlying tension; the way he kept scanning the room, and the way he kept fidgeting with the sleeves of his jacket betrayed his nervousness.

"Right then Mr. Sulaiman, time for you to start telling us the truth." Gene said as they both sat down opposite him.

"What do you mean Mr. Hunt? I've told you everything I know last week, didn't I?" He replied, still trying to feign innocence.

In spite of Alex's earlier plea to remain calm, Gene felt his temper rise immediately and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to suppress it.

"Don't play games with me and start giving me some bloody answers. We know you were the father of your sister's baby, you bastard!" He yelled at Aziz, slamming his fist down on the table to emphasize his anger.

Aziz's facial expressions changed from disbelief, to shock and finally to a pained sadness in a matter of seconds. He buried his head in his hands before starting to sob uncontrollably.

This wasn't the kind of reaction Gene and Alex had expected, and for a moment neither of them quite knew how to respond to this.

Gene soon found his voice again, and had decided against changing his tactics. "Now stop those bloody big crocodile tears and start telling the hole truth once and for all."

Aziz leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment while he tried to take control over his breathing again. Then he started talking.

"Rana's my sister, and I've known and loved her all my life. I'm not her biological brother though; I was adopted by the family when I was 8 years old. My father had worked for the Sulaiman family all his life as a sort of odd job man and was dearly beloved by all of them.  
I grew up on their big estate, it's the only home I've ever known. I was an only child, as my mother died giving birth to me, and my father hadn't remarried. So when he died, the family took me in and adopted me. They raised me as their own and never treated me differently than any of the other children. Rana was born a few months after I came to live with them, I remember it well."

Here he paused for a moment, allowing the memories to temporarily wash over him. He soon composed himself and continued.

"We always seemed to have a special bond, the two of us. It's very difficult to explain, but we had a sort of mutual understanding and respect that reached far beyond any ordinary bond between siblings. We both fought our feelings for a very long time, but about a year ago we finally gave in.

This was of course a very big taboo, and we had to make sure we couldn't be found by our family or anyone else for that matter. I had just started up a business in town and had bought a small flat so I didn't have to travel down to the estate every night anymore, and this is where we started meeting. Her personal driver would drop her off at the flat, where she was supposedly helping me choose fabrics etcetera for decoration. Nobody found it suspicious; after all, we were siblings.

When we learned of our parents' plans to arrange a marriage for Rana we were both heartbroken, but we knew that nothing could be done about it. Sometimes we fantasized about running away together and going abroad, but we both knew that we wouldn't be able to. At least that's what I thought. As the day of the wedding came closer we continued to meet each other, but all of a sudden her behaviour towards me changed. Suddenly she seemed very eager to marry, and even though it broke my heart I could understand why. She was accepting things the way they were, and was trying to move on with her life. Our secret meetings came to an end about three weeks before the wedding.

After she'd left on her honeymoon I searched her things, because I had this nagging feeling that something wasn't right. And that's when I found her diary and learned of the pregnancy and her plans to run away. I panicked and didn't know what to do, so I told my parents. Obviously I had to show them the diary for proof, so I was glad that she never mentioned my name and only referred to me as 'A'. My parents then decided to send me and my other sister to London to go and find her. We lied low for a couple of days and then came to the station where you told us that Rana was dead."

Alex looked pretty shocked after everything Aziz had just told them, while Gene was still visibly unaffected by all the information they'd just had to digest. In spite of their contradictory reactions, neither really knew what to say for a moment.

Alex spoke first, deciding that a softer approach was needed here. "So you're saying that you were involved with Rana, but that you had nothing to do with her death?"

"That's right," Aziz answered, sniffing slightly while a solitary tear rolled down his cheek. "I love her, and I would never do anything to hurt her."

"So what would you have done if you'd found her here, alive?" Gene asked, still quite obviously suspicious of the young man.

"I don't know. I really don't know," he answered, his voice still shaky and slightly panic stricken.

"You know of course that her life would've been over if you'd taken her back home with you." Alex intervened.

Aziz nodded in agreement. "Yes, I am aware of that. Women who commit adultery are generally sentenced to death. Of course I would never have let that happen to her. So I don't know, perhaps I would've stayed here with her."

Gene stood up abruptly and walked towards the door. "Bolly, a word."

Alex got up as well and went after him, carefully closing the door behind her.

"So what d'you think Bolls?" he asked.

"I think he's innocent," Alex replied, leaning back against the wall.

"Piss off. Do you call that piece of scum innocent?"

"Well innocent of murder at least, yes." Alex replied, getting annoyed now.

"I'm telling you Bolly, he's guilty as sin!"

"No, he isn't! And when will your Neanderthal mind finally accept that people are innocent until proven otherwise!" Alex shouted, making other people move past quickly in the hallway, and trying to ignore the fact that their two senior officers were about to start one of their infamous shouting match in the middle of the station.

"We will discuss this some other time, and in a quieter place," Gene hissed, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her away from the small crowd of onlookers that had stopped in their tracks.

Gene was still holding her by the arm as they returned to CID. By now, Alex had the facial expression of someone who was seriously contemplating mass murder, which Gene conveniently decided to ignore as he took her into his office and closed the blinds.

He made her sit on the chair and perched himself on the edge of his desk, folding his arms in a defensive manner.

"Now we're gonna have a civilized conversation about this Alex, without shouting. I won't have your blood pressure go through the roof because neither of us can admit that we might be wrong sometimes.

Alex looked away, still visibly annoyed by his recent behaviour, and to proud to admit that he might've had a point there.

"Look Bolls, Alex, just tell me what you think. I promise I'll try not to interrupt…too much." This last remark was accompanied by a wink, and Alex failed to suppress a small smile.

Alex took a breath, and then began speaking. "I've been studying him closely; not just the story he's telling, but I've been observing his body language, his emotional state. I've checked all his statements for continuity errors and inconsistencies, and I haven't been able to find any. I think he's an honest man, who might've made some mistakes, but I think he's telling the truth. I'm not acting on a hunch here, I genuinely think he's got nothing to do with any of this."

Gene stared down at his boots, thinking about what Alex just told him. His lips were pursed into their trademark pout, and a blonde lock of hair had flopped over his forehead, making him look quite adorable, and Alex felt her anger ebb away instantly.

"So you're saying you're back to suspecting the husband now, or what?" he asked.

"No, I don't think he's done it either." Alex answered. "I have a strange feeling about the other sister though. Not that I'm saying she's the killer or anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if she had anything to do with it."

"I'm sorry Bolls, I wanna support you in your theories an' all, but that just sounds plain ridiculous." Gene said, standing up to pour himself a generous amount of scotch, which he downed in one go.

"How could she have had anything to do with her sister's death? The girl's always in the company of other family members, always protected and watched over, waddling around in that bin bag-like outfit of hers."

Alex rolled her eyes at the rather uninspired burqa-metaphor Gene had just used.

"You haven't spoken to her, Gene. You didn't see the cold and uninterested look in her eyes when we talked about her dead sister. She doesn't seem to care about her at all, almost as if she was glad that her sister had died!"

"Well what do you suggest we do then? Arrest her for her sister's murder because she has a nasty look in her eyes?" Gene was on the brink of losing his temper again.

"Of course not. But we could follow her, see where she's going and what she's doing. Remember, her brother's still in police custody, so she can go anywhere she likes and do as she pleases."

"And I suppose you'd want to volunteer for that job?" Gene replied.

"Well, maybe." Alex answered. "But not necessarily. We could get Shaz to do it, or she could just come with me. At the same time it would be a great opportunity for her to do some proper police work."

"No way Bolly, this isn't gonna happen, end of. Besides, you're on desk duty at the moment, so I suggest you get back to said desk and get some work done." Gene turned his back on her before she could answer back.

Alex knew that trying to argue with him now would be futile, so she turned on her heel and stormed out of his office, slamming the door shut behind her.

* * *

Alex did as she was told for a while, and sat behind her desk with a bunch of files lying in front of her. But she found she couldn't concentrate, as her mind kept going over the details of the case that seemed to occupy most of her thoughts these days.

She looked down at the notepad in front of her. All the things she'd scribbled down seemed to be completely at random, but there just had to be a connection somewhere. She felt as though the answer was right in front of her, but for some reason she just couldn't find it. It frustrated her beyond belief, and when she could stand it no longer she decided to do something about it, whether Gene liked it or not.

"Shaz, I'm going to go out for a bit. I'm not going to do anything dangerous, just going to have a look at the crime scene again and ask around in the neighbourhood. If the Guv asks about my whereabouts, just tell him I've picked up Molly from school and have taken her shopping. I'll be back by five o'clock."

The WPC just nodded, thinking it wisely not to disagree with her DI, but she felt her nerves rise from the pit of her stomach as she watched Alex leave.

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

_Again, apologies for the massive delay! I had a friend staying over, and then I went to London for a few days and met Joanna Lumley! So that really made my year. But now it's back to the fic. This will be the last real chapter, and I'm planning an epilogue after this, but it has only been half written. Hope you enjoy and I'd love a review if at all possible!_

* * *

_Chapter 8  
_

Alex decided to make a detour past the hotel to see if Layla was in. The receptionist told her she had gone out about two hours ago, so Alex decided to hang around in the lobby for a while in the hope that she'd turn up. After having waited for half an hour, Alex decided to give up and head for the scene of the crime. She'd taken an unmarked pool car, as not to draw attention to herself too much.

Alex got out of the car and looked around across the field near the docklands where Rana had been found, on that cold December morning nearly two months ago now. She didn't know what she'd expected to find here, especially after all this time. Whatever evidence there might've been that was initially missed would've been washed away by the winter's heavy rainfall.

"Oh Rana, what on earth were you doing here?" she muttered to herself as she walked along the side of the field, wrapping her coat tighter around herself to seek protection from the icy cold wind. All of a sudden she thought she heard something, and she was sure it wasn't the wind. She came to an abrupt standstill, and the moment she wanted to turn around she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head before everything went black.

* * *

"Granger, where's DI Drake?" Gene bellowed from his office, not even bothering to come out.

Shaz hurried to his office, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink in anticipation of the lie she was about to tell. "She eh…went shopping with Molly, Guv." Unfortunately Shaz had never been good at lying, and Gene saw right through her.

"I know she's not. Molls was in school until an hour ago, and she's just phoned me to ask if she could speak to her mum, so where is she really?"

Shaz bit her bottom lip and glanced at the clock. It was four thirty, which meant that Alex still had half an hour to get back here, but she knew she wouldn't be able to stall that long.

"Alright then," Shaz started. "Ma'am went out around two-ish, and she told me to tell you she was going shopping in case you asked. But in fact she was going to the scene of the crime to have a look around. She said she'd be back by five o'clock though so she should be here any moment."

Gene couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew Alex had gone off on stupid little investigations of her own before, which usually ended in him saving her at the very last moment, but he thought she'd learned her lesson by now. He hadn't felt this angry in a while, but at the same time he was scared. Surely she wouldn't put herself, and the baby, in danger? Suddenly a feeling of dread crept over him, and he knew something wasn't right. It was ten to five now, and he just knew she wouldn't be walking through those door within the next ten minutes.

He grabbed his coat from his office and strode towards the double door, slapping Chris's headphones off in the process and throwing Ray's mag into a corner.

"Chris, Raymondo, with me. NOW!"

* * *

Alex awoke with a splitting headache, the pounding in her head from where she'd been hit so intense that it was almost as if she had gone deaf. Everything looked blurry and she blinked a couple of times, hoping it would clear her vision a bit. When she was finally able to see better she started taking in her surroundings. From what she could make out she appeared to be in an old warehouse, though it was hard to tell as the only source of light came from the windows high up, and a solitary light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the distance. She tried to move, but both her hands and feet had been tied together by a tight rope. Screaming for help was no use either, as she'd been gagged as well. Her feelings of panic started to rise as it dawned on her that there was no way she could get away, and that nobody knew where she was exactly.

She wondered how she could've been so stupid to put herself in danger like this. She feared for her baby's life and her own, she feared she'd never see Molly or Gene ever again. The tears ran freely down her cheeks, while she was slowly giving up hope of making it out of there alive. And then she felt it, a flutter of movement, followed by a stronger, more powerful kick. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been so scared when she didn't feel anything at first, but at least now she knew that the baby was fine, and it gave her a sparkle of newfound hope that she would live to see this through. She just hoped that Shaz wouldn't stick to her promises and would tell Gene where she'd gone.

* * *

The red Audio Quattro roared to life and sped through the streets of London heading for the docklands, with Gene firmly behind the wheel and Ray and Chris clinging onto their seats for dear life. They knew the Guv drove like a maniac, but this was unlike anything they'd experienced before.

"Steady on Guv," Ray said as he gripped the seat in front of him even tighter. "We do want to arrive all in one piece."

"Raymondo, DON'T tell me how to drive my car!" Gene barked over his shoulder.

They arrived at the docklands shortly afterwards, just as it was starting to get dark. The three men took their flashlights out of the car and went off in different directions, searching the premises for any sign or clue about Alex's whereabouts.

Gene felt more anxious with every minute that passed. He scanned the ground carefully with his torch, making sure he covered every inch before he moved on. His heart stopped for a moment when he came across something familiar: Alex's red scarf. _Shit!_

He looked around trying to locate Chris and Ray, and called them over. "Radio in for backup now, we need to search the area. I found Bolly's scarf."

* * *

Alex could hear footsteps approaching, but had no idea from which direction they came because of the big resonance of the room she was in. All of a sudden lights were switched on, and Alex had to squint her eyes for a moment to be able to adjust to the sudden bright lights after sitting in the darkness for so long.

Someone was walking towards her. A young woman with black hair who Alex immediately identified as Layla, Rana's older sister.

"I see you've woken up then," she said as she stood still in front of Alex, removing the gag from her mouth..

"What do you want?" Alex asked her. "I don't know what kind of sick game you're playing, but you won't get away with it."

"Tut tut, that's quite confident coming from someone in your position. Exactly how would you want to stop me? Last time I checked your hands and feet were tied."

"What is it you want?" Alex asked again, ignoring Layla's previous remark. "What have I ever done for you to treat me this way?"

"You see," Layla said, not answering Alex's question," you came a little too close for comfort. My brother called me from the station this afternoon, and told me that you no longer thought he was the killer. However, one of the other officers apparently told him that you were going to speak to me again, and I simply didn't feel like it."

She twirled around Alex for a moment, almost as if she were dancing, and produced a knife from inside her jacket.

"I didn't want you or anyone else to question me about my sister again", she continued. "As you might've noticed, I didn't like her very much."

Alex shuddered as she caught sight of the knife, but tried to remain calm and keep Layla talking.

"So how come you didn't like your sister?" Alex asked as casually as she could manage.

"Why? WHY? Because she was a year younger than me, the baby of the family. Prettier, cleverer, all in all the perfect daughter. And then there was me. No wonder they chose to arrange a marriage for her instead of me, even though it was only right that I should get married first. But then I found out about her dirty little secrets, I found out that she wasn't so perfect after all."

Layla stared at the knife in her hands for a moment, as if contemplating her next move.

"Back home she would've been stoned to death for what she did, you know that?" Layla asked.

Alex nodded. "Yes, I am aware of that," she answered.

"It would've suited me fine," Layla continued. "It would've been exactly what she deserved. But Aziz didn't feel the same way, unfortunately. He told me he wanted to help her, to save her and to prevent shame from being brought upon our family. Now I want nothing more than maintaining our family's good reputation, but sinners have to be punished."

Alex hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was wise to ask the most important question that was on her mind. "Did you kill your sister, Layla?"

"No, I didn't," she answered. "I punished her for the crimes she'd committed; the adultery, the incestuous relationship with her brother. I don't think I ever met anyone as impure as my very own sister."

Alex shuddered involuntarily, partly because of the cold and partly because of the knife that Layla was still gripping tightly with both hands.

Layla started speaking again. "So yes, I suppose you could say I killed her. I knew she'd planned on running away, and that some man called James was helping her. So I left a note for her at the hotel, pretending to be James. I told her to come to the docklands, because I needed to show her something amazing. I had planned to talk to her first, to ask her why she'd done the things she had. But when I saw her approaching I got so angry, so I grabbed a piece of wood and hit her over the head repeatedly. She fell face-down and didn't get up again, so I left her there. It was even easier than I thought it would be." She finished her story with a smug grin spreading across her face, which made Alex's stomach churn.

"Now, as I said, you came too close for my liking. You would've figured out the truth sooner or later, while I'd rather have people think that she wandered off by herself and got hit over the head by a beggar or something."

Her mood changed all of a sudden, and she went from being chipper to furious in a matter of seconds. " My plan was working out wonderfully until you lot got involved! And you will pay for this!"

"Besides", she slipped back into her seemingly good mood again, "you're quite a bit like my sister, aren't you Alex? An adulterer. Having a bastard baby. Yes, you're a little slut, just like my sister was. So I'm afraid you'll meet the same fate as her. You see, sluts need to be punished for their deeds."

By now Alex had really started to panic. This girl was completely insane, but she had no means of escaping her. Alex was getting desperate now, and the little hope of being saved had now abandoned her. She tried her best to stay composed, but couldn't help the solitary tear that ran down her cheek.

"Crying now, aren't we? Well crying won't get you anywhere my dear. I'm immune to your petty emotions."

Layla kneeled down beside Alex, now holding the knife firmly in her right hand. Alex gasped as she noticed the close proximity between her and the sharp, metal instrument.

"So where shall we start?" Layla thought out loud. "Here?" holding the knife close to Alex's throat. "Or perhaps…here?" lowering the knife to her stomach.

"P-please, I'm begging you." Alex whispered, the tears again streaming down her cheeks.

Layla had no time to reply, because at that precise moment a door to their right flung open and Gene and Ray stormed in, guns at the ready.

She grabbed Alex tighter and held the knife to her throat. "Don't move or I'll slit her throat!" she yelled in desperation, clearly panicked by this sudden change.

"Right, you let her go unharmed, and I promise not to kill you immediately," Gene shouted.

The two men were slowly closing in on her, and Layla froze for a moment, not sure of her next move. She didn't have time to undertake any action, because suddenly she felt a pair of hands grabbing her from behind and dragging her away from Alex. She tried to fight her attacker, who turned out to be Chris, but didn't stand a chance as Ray was with them within a second and handcuffed her.

The moment Chris got hold of Layla, Gene rushed to Alex's side and untied her hands and feet before pulling her into his arms. Alex buried her face in his chest as her small frame shook violently from the sobs that racked through her.

"S'okay Bolls, I'm here now. Don't worry, I'm 'ere. Everything's going to be ok." He murmured into her ear by means of comforting her.

Gene was relieved to find Alex all in one piece. But it had been a close call this time. A _very_ close call.

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

_So here it is, the very last chapter. I can't believe it's been a year since I first started writing this story, nor did I think I'd ever actually get to finish it! A really big thank you to everyone who has reviewed throughout the story, it really meant so much to me, and it gave me the confidence to continue. I hope everyone will like the last chapter, and that you'll be satisfied with the ending I've given it._

* * *

_Epilogue_

**Three months later**

Two big double doors swung open, enabling three figures to enter and walk down the long, narrow corridor. A tall man, a much shorter brunette with bouncing curls, and a little boy with hair in the same colour. The two adults walked in silence and at a fast pace while the little boy skipped ahead of them. Eventually they stopped in front of a door, the woman taking the boy by the hand an motioning him to be calm. The man opened the door, and all three entered and made their way over to the other end of the room where a woman was lying in a bed, with a girl sitting in a chair next to her. A broad smile spread across Alex's face as she saw them approaching, and shifted into a more upright position to welcome her visitors.

"Annie, what a surprise! Did you come all the way from Manchester just for this?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Well it is a bit of a special occasion, isn't it?" Annie replied as she stepped forward to give Alex a hug. "After all, I'd never in a million years expected to see Gene Hunt becoming a father."

"Yeah alright Cartwright, that's enough. No need to spell out your disbelief every time we see you." Gene said in mock annoyance, pursing his lips into his trademark pout for emphasis.

"Speaking of which, where's the baby?" Annie asked as she looked around the room.

"The nurses needed to do a check up, but they should be back any minute now."

Alex had barely finished speaking when they door opened and one of the nurses wheeled a little cot into the room, containing a tiny infant who was sleeping soundly within its confines. The nurse took the baby out of the cot and placed it in Alex's arms, who was now sporting the biggest smile imaginable.

Being in a hospital and looking in on such a joyous event made Annie think back to that day three and a half years ago, when she'd been in pretty much the same position, though not as joyful and carefree as Alex was now.

* * *

"'_ello flash knickers!" Gene entered the room holding a small teddy bear, which made him seem horribly out of place. _

"_Guv, you startled me! Didn't hear you come in."_

_He walked over to the bed and clumsily placed a kiss on her cheek. Annie couldn't help but smile as Gene nervously fiddled with the teddy bear in his hands._

"_I er..brought this. Hope it's ok, I wasn't sure what to get..you know."_

"_It's perfect, thanks." She replied._

_Annie realised it was very rare to see the Guv nervous like this. She could tell he felt terribly out of place, and didn't really know what to do with himself. So far he'd handled himself pretty well though, apart from the 'flash knickers' comment, but that was something she was used to. _

_Gene cleared his throat. "So this is him then?" He said, walking over to the other side to get a better look at the baby in the cot._

_Annie nodded as she gazed proudly at her newborn son. _

"_A boy," Gene mumbled. "Didn't think that nancy-boy Tyler had it in him."_

_She chuckled slightly at his comment, but a pained sadness could be seen in her eyes._

"_I'm sorry love, didn't mean to upset you."_

"_No, it's ok Guv. I know you didn't mean to."_

"_Can I?" He asked, gesturing at the baby._

_Annie nodded. "Yes of course, go ahead."_

_Gene carefully lifted the little baby out of his cot and cradled him in his arms. At that moment the baby's eyes opened, and Gene was in for a bit of a shock. A pair of all too familiar eyes were looking up at him. _

"_Blimey, you might've inherited your mother's hair colour, but you sure your father's eyes."_

"_The resemblance is striking isn't it? Trust Sam to make sure he's not forgotten." Annie sighed._

"_Have you eh..thought of a name for him yet?" Gene asked._

"_Samuel James. I tried calling him Sam or Sammy yesterday, but I couldn't. It was just too painful. So he's going to be a Jamie instead. I thought the name suited him." Annie replied._

"_I'm glad you didn't call him Sam, and Jamie's a nice name." Gene said. _

"_Thanks. Oh and one other thing," Annie continued. "I wanted to ask you to be his godfather."_

"_What, me?" Gene looked genuinely surprised. "Look I'm flattered an' all love, but I'm not sure I'm the right person for it. I'm not exactly a great role model for kids am I?" _

"_Oh come on Gene. You're his dad's best friend! I'm certain Sam would've wanted this." _

_Gene looked back down at the baby. "You know, your dad once told me I was an __overweight, over the hill, nicotine stained, borderline alcoholic, homophobe, with a superiority complex and an unhealthy obsession with male bonding. And now your mum wants to make me your godfather. It's a strange world we live in, eh?" And then he added, whispering so nobody would hear: "but your uncle Gene will always be here when you need him."_

_Then he placed the baby carefully in Annie's arms. "Right, I'll best be off then love. There's a pint waiting in the Railway Arms with me name on it."_

"_Okay, thanks for coming. Don't stay away from Manchester too long Guv." _

"_I'll try not to. Bye Annie."_

_

* * *

_

"So, what do you think?" Alex asked, snapping Annie out of her daydream.

"She's beautiful Alex. Has she got a name yet?" Annie asked.

Alex nodded, still smiling. "We've decided to name her Emma. It was actually Molly who suggested the name, and we both loved it," Alex said, stretching out her left arm and drawing her eldest daughter in for a hug.

"That's a beautiful name," Annie said. "She looks like an Emma."

Everyone fell silent for a moment as they just gazed at the tiny baby, who slept on peacefully and was unaware of all the attention she had attracted.

"I think we'd best be off now" Annie said, making an end to the silence.

Alex looked up in surprise. "So soon? But you only just got here."

"I'll be in town for a few more days, so I'll come back to visit you later. But you're obviously still tired, and you need to rest and be with your family for now. Trust me," Annie smiled.

"I suppose you're right, but promise you'll come over once I'm out of hospital," Alex said.

"I promise." She took her son's hand in hers. "Say goodbye now Jamie."

The little boy waved shyly at Alex and Molly, and Gene kneeled down in front of him to pull him into a hug. Then they turned and left the room, allowing the new family some quiet and much deserved alone time.

* * *

Alex couldn't quite believe how good life could be. She looked at both her daughters and at Gene, and realised she couldn't remember a time when she felt happier than she did now.

Her kidnap by Layla three months earlier had been terrifying, and nearly fatal for both her and the baby, but it had also been the reality-check that she so desperately needed. It finally made her see that she wasn't superwoman, and that she didn't constantly need to prove herself in her predominantly male work environment. Just the thought that something could've happened to her and the baby, and the consequences this would've had on her family sent shivers down her spine. This was why she had agreed to desk duty with immediate effect until she went on leave. Gene had ordered it, and she hadn't even felt the need to argue about it with him.

However, she had still been actively involved with all the cases, doing what she did best. Analysing, profiling, and even interviewing suspects. She didn't really feel left out at all, and the knowledge that she wouldn't be in any danger did give her some much needed peace of mind.

In the meantime Layla had remained imprisoned for an unknown amount of time. They had gathered more than enough evidence to make a strong case, and there was no doubt that she would be found guilty of the murder of her sister, and the kidnap and attempted murder of Alex. Only unfortunately the case had got delayed by the diplomatic crisis that it had ensued. Saudi-Arabia had ordered the extradition of Layla, while the British state wanted to keep her over here because she had committed a crime on British soil. Alex didn't know what she'd rather see happening. She knew that Layla would certainly be put to death if she returned to Saudi-Arabia. Of course she was against death penalty, but part of her almost felt as though the girl deserved it. If she went to prison in Britain she'd get life, and because she wasn't in a good mental state she would never be released again. The thought that this girl would never return to society, whichever way the diplomatic battle would go, was a very comforting thought.

Aziz, Layla and Rana's brother, was cleared from all charges. He was released and returned home a few days later. He was devastated to find out that his own sister was behind the murder of the woman he loved, and was pretty much inconsolable. At the same time he feared his return home, because the family wouldn't exactly welcome him with open arms after the adultery he had committed with his sister. Rana's body was brought back home as well, though she wouldn't be buried near the rest of the family because she had brought such shame upon them. Two adulterers and a murderer all in the same family had certainly tainted their good name for the foreseeable future, if not for good.

Nour had left the country almost immediately as well, feeling ashamed and betrayed by recent events. He wanted to have nothing more to do with his late wife's family.

It had been an intense couple of months, with one of the most shocking cases they'd ever had to deal with. But it had also had a positive outcome, in more ways than one. Gene and Molly had gradually become much closer, which filled Alex with intense happiness. For the first time in her life Molly experienced what it was like to have a father figure in her life, and the young girl had really thrived, both in school and at home. Then there was Gene and Alex's engagement. They hadn't set a date yet, but it would probably take place towards the end of the year. And of course there was the best bit of all: Emma. Their beautiful, perfect baby girl. She had no notion of anything as she slept soundly in her mother's arms, but over the past few months she had been the reason that brought this family together. Sure they had moved into Gene's flat last year, but that was because they needed the extra bedroom after Molly had joined them. But Alex's unexpected pregnancy made them look for a house that they could buy, and had pretty much put their relationship in the fast lane. Gene hadn't proposed to Alex because it was "the right thing to do", but if it hadn't been for the baby he had probably waited another year or so.

When Alex first arrived in the 80s nearly three years ago she had hated it. She couldn't wait to get back to her own time. But she no longer cared about the 21st century. Everyone that mattered to her was right here with her in the hospital room. She didn't need anyone else. Her life was complete.

_fin_

_

* * *

_**So, one last review for old times' sake? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for reading!**


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